VOLUME 2, ISSUE 17  •  OCTOBER 22, 2016

Table of Contents

Copyright Notice

VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis’ delayed Milan trip to take place in March

Have grandkids? Pope Francis wants you to talk with them

Pope at canonization Mass: Prayer isn’t always easy, pray anyway

Pope Francis to visit Italian diocese of Genoa May 27

Francis, Benedict praise Bartholomew I as a brother in faith

Pope’s Iraq envoy says peace stifled by lack of ‘political will’

Cardinals up in arms over new ‘McVatican’ proposal

A lesson from one of the Church’s newest saints

The reality of poverty is challenging, but don’t avoid it, Pope says

Nuclear weapons offer only illusory peace, Holy See tells U.N.

Global progress for children is stalled by war, Holy See tells U.N.

Ratzinger prize recipients include first-ever Orthodox winner

Vatican, Al-Azhar to officially resume dialogue

Pope Francis: Where are vocations from? An encounter with God

WORLD NEWS

Dutch want right-to-die for people who feel ‘their life is complete’

Iraqis hopeful in battle for Mosul, yet cautious of what lies ahead

Syrian priest who escaped ISIS: ‘Our world needs a revolution against violence’

After deadly protests, religious leaders in Ethiopia call for peace

The Memorial of Moses reopens, where he viewed the Promised Land

When it comes to Venezuela, new Jesuit head ‘critical’ of Maduro regime

U.S. NEWS

For Archbishop Chaput, ‘Catholic Spring’ group did untold damage

Why Planned Parenthood’s 100-year anniversary is no occasion to celebrate

Church’s fear of ‘civil rights’ prosecution justified, Iowa court says

The dark side of a D.C. bill that no one wants to talk about

Insurance denied her chemo treatment. But it covered drugs for suicide

Here’s a pre-election novena to Mary, patroness of the U.S.

Kaine’s abortion stance an affront to reason, archbishop says

What the George Soros network saw in a ‘Catholic Spring’ group

In final debate, candidates diverge sharply on abortion

Augustine Institute offering scholarships for a master’s in theology

Cardinal Dolan recaps Al Smith dinner: Awkward, but at least they prayed

Archbishop Chaput: Be like Mary. Punch the devil in the nose

FEATURES

He was a runner for the Japanese mafia. Now he’s a Catholic priest.

The trouble with the ‘You go, girl’ culture

The North American Martyrs

Why there’s hope for Catholic liturgical music

What to do about Halloween? Catholic moms – and an exorcist – weigh in

News Items that Caught my Attention Recently

Triple review: ‘Keeping Up with the Joneses,’ ‘The Accountant,’ and ‘Jack Reacher 2’

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Sunday • October 23, 2016

Monday • October 24, 2016

Tuesday • October 25, 2016

Wednesday • October 26, 2016

Thursday • October 27, 2016

Friday • October 28, 2016

Saturday • October 29, 2016

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Volume 2, Issue 17 • October 22, 2016

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis’ delayed Milan trip to take place in March

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • October 15, 2016

Pope Francis at the Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square on June 22, 2016. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — After having to postpone the trip earlier this year, because of an over-full schedule for the Jubilee of Mercy, Pope Francis will travel to Milan on March 25, 2017, the Vatican announced Saturday.

“This visit of the Holy Father is a sign of affection and esteem for the Ambrosian Church, the city of Milan and the whole of Lombardy,” Milan’s Archbishop, Cardinal Angelo Scola, said in a statement about the visit.

“We want to express to the Pope our gratitude because he will come to confirm us in the faith. We live from now on waiting for the Pope in prayer, in preparation for this great gift,” Cardinal Scola said.

The Vatican announced back on Dec. 10, 2015, that due to Pope Francis’ busy schedule during the Jubilee of Mercy he had decided to postpone his May 7, 2016 visit to the Archdiocese of Milan until the following year.

A Dec. 10 communique from the Vatican announced that Cardinal Scola received a note from the Secretariat of State saying that due to “the intensification of the Jubilee commitments,” Pope Francis has decided “to postpone his pastoral visits in Italy.”

“As a result, the visit to Milan already officially scheduled and announced for May 7, 2016, will be postponed until the year 2017.”

In the coming days the Milan Bishops’ Council will begin organizational work to set up and coordinate a special commission for the Pope’s visit.

Cardinal Scola informally announced the Pope’s visit to Milan in an Oct. 27 communique posted on the diocese’s website, after first making it known during a meeting with Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Béchara Boutros Raï earlier that morning.

Milan is the second largest city in Italy, and serves as the capital of the country’s northern Lombardy region. The last Pope to visit Milan was Benedict XVI in 2012, when he traveled to the diocese June 1-3 for the 7th World Meeting of Families.

Pope Francis officially inaugurated the Jubilee Dec. 8 on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception by opening the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica. It will close Nov. 20, 2016, the Solemnity of Christ the King.

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VATICAN NEWS

Have grandkids? Pope Francis wants you to talk with them

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • October 15, 2016

(Michal Parzuchowski via Unsplash)

Vatican City — On Saturday, Pope Francis told grandparents that they are valuable and that their wisdom should be shared with the younger generation, to help them grow and to support them in their faith.

“And talk to your grandchildren, talk. Let them ask you questions,” he said. They may be different from you, they may do other things, “they like other music … but they need the elderly, this ongoing dialogue.”

“You are an important presence, because your experience is a precious treasure, essential to looking to the future with hope and responsibility,” Pope Francis said Oct. 15 at the Vatican.

The Pope met with pilgrims, including around 7,000 grandparents, to share a reflection and prayer as part of the Celebration of Grandparents. The audience also included the National Association of Older Workers and the Federation of Seniors Italy.

During the audience, Pope Francis acknowledged how many elderly people give generously of their time in the Church – whether as catechists, or during the liturgy, or by cleaning or decorating.

“And what about their role in the family?” he said. “How many grandparents care for grandchildren, simply by transmitting to children the experience of life, the spiritual and cultural values of a community and a people!”

It is important to promote the bond between generations, the Pope said. “The future of a people requires the encounter between young and old: the young people are the vitality of a people on the way and the elderly reinforce this vitality with memory and wisdom.”

The elderly show that it is possible to withstand even the greatest trials, never losing confidence in God or in a better future, Francis continued. The elderly are like trees that “continue to bear fruit” giving their contribution for a society “rich in values,” and affirming the “culture of life.”

He shamed the “throwaway” culture which considers old people unproductive and useless, instead of respecting and appreciating their personal dignity.

In a world that believes strength and appearance are the most important things, “you have the mission to witness to the values that really matter and which endure forever because they are engraved on the heart of every human being and guaranteed by the Word of God,” he told pilgrims.

“You, or rather we – because I too am one of them,” Francis noted, “are called to work for the development of the culture of life, witnessing that every season of life is a gift from God and it has its own beauty and its importance, although marked by fragility.”

In countries that have been under severe religious persecution, grandparents have had an important role of passing along the faith to the next generation, the Pope said. They have even lead children to be baptized, despite suffering or an underground church.

Pope Francis thanked the grandfathers and grandmothers present for their example of love, dedication and wisdom. “Continue with courage to bear witness to these values! Not lacking your smile in society and the beautiful brightness of your eyes!”

“The Church regards the elderly with affection, gratitude and high esteem. They are an essential part of the Christian community and society, in particular they represent the roots and the memory of a people.”

At the end of his speech, the Pope encouraged people to pray to St. Anne, the grandmother of Jesus: “Everyone ask Anne to teach us to be good and wise grandparents,” he said.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope at canonization Mass: Prayer isn’t always easy, pray anyway

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • October 16, 2016

Pope Francis canonizes seven new saints on Oct. 16, 2016. (Martha Calderon/CNA)

Vatican City — On Sunday, Pope Francis canonized seven new saints in the Catholic Church, saying that prayer isn’t always a smooth path, but that like the saints, Christ supports us even when it is difficult.

“The saints are men and women who enter fully into the mystery of prayer. Men and women who struggle with prayer, letting the Holy Spirit pray and struggle in them,” Pope Francis said Oct. 16.

“They struggle to the very end, with all their strength, and they triumph, but not by their own efforts: the Lord triumphs in them and with them. The seven witnesses who were canonized today also fought the good fight of faith and love by their prayers.”

In a Mass with 80,000 pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis declared seven new saints, including the new Saints Elizabeth of the Blessed Trinity, a Carmelite nun; and José Sánchez del Río, who was martyred at the age of 14.

“… we declare and define Blessed Solomon Leclercq, José Sánchez del Río, Manuel González García, Lodovico Pavoni, Alfonso Maria Fusco, José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero and Elizabeth of the Trinity Catez to be Saints,” Francis stated.

“And we enroll them among the Saints, decreeing that they are to be venerated as such by the whole Church.”

In his homily, Pope Francis likened our prayers to the battle Moses waged against Amalek as recounted in the Book of Exodus. Even though he grew weary and discouraged, Moses was supported by Aaron and Hur, and was able to persevere in prayer for Israel.

“This is the kind of spiritual life the Church asks of us: not to win by war, but to win with peace! There is an important message in this story of Moses: commitment to prayer demands that we support one another,” he said.

“To pray is not to take refuge in an ideal world, nor to escape into a false, selfish sense of calm,” Francis said. “On the contrary, to pray is to struggle, but also to let the Holy Spirit pray within us.”

Not alone, but through Christ, the saints “attained the goal,” the Pope continued. “Thanks to prayer, they had a generous and steadfast heart. They prayed mightily; they fought and they were victorious. So pray!”

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity was a Carmelite nun from the 20th century. She grew up in Dijon, France near a Carmelite monastery. After visiting the monastery at age 17, she felt called to join.

Obedient to her mother, who said she could not enter until age 21, she continued to work with troubled youth, teaching them the faith, until she entered the Carmel in Dijon in 1901. She died from Addison’s disease only 5 years later, at the age of 26.

St. José Sánchez del Río was born in Sahuayo de Morelos, Mexico in 1913. He was a Mexican Cristero. At the age of 14 he was tortured and put to death by government officials when he refused to renounce his Catholic faith.

Often pictured on horseback, Argentinian priest St. José Gabriele del Rosario Brochero was known for his service to the poor and sick; St. Solomon Leclercq was a French priest killed during the French Revolution for refusing to swear an oath of allegiance to the new government.

St. Manuel González García was a Spanish Roman Catholic bishop; St. Lodovico Pavoni, an Italian priest, founded the Sons of Mary Immaculate; and St. Alfonso Maria Fusco, also an Italian priest, founded the Sisters of St. John the Baptist.

Pope Francis acknowledged that weariness in our prayer lives is “inevitable.” But that, with the support of our brothers and sisters, the Lord can succeed in us.

“The ‘battle’ of perseverance cannot be won without prayer. Not sporadic or hesitant prayer, but prayer offered as Jesus tells us in the Gospel: ‘Pray always, without ever losing heart,’” he said.

“This is the Christian way of life: remaining steadfast in prayer, in order to remain steadfast in faith and testimony.”

The mystery of prayer, Pope Francis said, is to keep “crying out, not to lose heart, and if we should grow tired, asking help to keep our hands raised.”

We are members of the Body of Christ, the Church, so even if we grow weary, we are not alone, the Pope said.

“Only in the Church, and thanks to the Church’s prayer, are we able to remain steadfast in faith and witness.”

At the end of the Mass, Pope Francis led pilgrims in the Angelus, noting in his message the World Day against Poverty taking place Oct. 17.

“Let us join forces, moral and economic, to fight together against poverty that degrades, insults and kills so many brothers and sisters, by implementing standard policies for families and for work,” he said.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis to visit Italian diocese of Genoa May 27

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 17, 2016

Pope Francis at the Divine Mercy Vigil in St. Peter’s Square on April 2, 2016. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — Shortly after their bishop was named the new president of the Council of Catholic Episcopal Conferences in Europe, the Archdiocese of Genoa announced that Pope Francis will make a daytrip to the city this coming spring.

According to an Oct. 16 communique posted on the Archdiocese of Genoa’s website, their archbishop, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, made the announcement of the Pope’s visit “with great joy” after celebrating Mass in the city’s cathedral.

He had told churchgoers that the archdiocese would be starting a new pastoral year in which special emphasis would be placed on the liturgy and Eucharistic Adoration, prayer within the family, youth and education.

In the context of this special pastoral year, the Pope’s visit is “a grace which Genoa awaits” with joy, the communique read, explaining that the diocese is preparing “in a spirit of communion and collaboration, to welcome Francis May 27.”

The Pope’s daytrip also coincides with the 380th anniversary of Mary Queen of Genoa, a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1637.

Like Milan, the visit to Genoa had already been planned for an earlier date, but was postponed due to the Pope’s numerous commitments for the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.

The Vatican announced Dec. 10, 2015, that due to Pope Francis’ busy schedule during the Holy Year he had decided to postpone his May 7, 2016, visit to the Archdiocese of Milan until the following year. On Saturday it was announced that the delayed visit would now take place March 25, 2017.

Genoa was the site of the recent Sept. 15-18 National Eucharistic Congress, which Pope Francis was unable to attend due to commitments for the Jubilee of Mercy. He named Cardinal Bagnasco as his special envoy.

The announcement of Francis’ trip to Genoa came shortly after the election of Cardinal Bagnasco as the new President of the Council of Catholic Episcopal Conferences in Europe.

An outspoken voice on many current issues, Bagnasco has come out as a hard-hitter on several major topics, including gender theory, abortion, civil unions and communion for the divorced and remarried.

Also President of the Italian Bishops Conference, Bagnasco was elected by the Council of Catholic Episcopal Conferences in Europe (CCEE) during their Oct. 6-9 Plenary Assembly and will take over for Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erdo, who has been at the helm since 2006.

The CCEE is a gathering of the presidents of the individual European Bishops Conferences. In his role as president, Bagnasco will be responsible not so much for political procedures, but will head a wide range of activities overseen by the individual bishops conferences, including catechesis.

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VATICAN NEWS

Francis, Benedict praise Bartholomew I as a brother in faith

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • October 17, 2016

Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew I in Greece on April 16, 2016. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — In their forewords to a new book about the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church Patriarch Bartholomew I, Pope Francis and retired Pope Benedict XVI praised the faith and goodness of the ecumenical patriarch.

“Today, we brothers in the faith and hope that does not disappoint, we are deeply united in the desire that Christians of the East and the West can feel part of the one and only Church,” Pope Francis wrote.

The forewords were contributions to the book Bartholomew, Apostle and Visionary by John Chryssavgis, written in honor of the 25th anniversary of the patriarch’s election as head of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It was released Oct. 11.

In the messages, Pope Francis and Benedict both reflected on their meetings with Patriarch Bartholomew and on the things which unite them.

“My first meeting with my beloved brother Bartholomew took place the same day in which I started my papal ministry, when he honored me with his presence in Rome,” Pope Francis recalled.

Patriarch Bartholomew’s presence at the inaugural Mass of Pope Francis on March 19, 2013 was the first time that an ecumenical patriarch had attended the inauguration of a pope since the schism between the Eastern Orthodox and Catholics in 1054.

“I felt I was meeting a man walking in the faith,” Francis continued, “who in his person and in his manner expresses deep human and spiritual experience of the Orthodox tradition. On that occasion we hugged with sincere affection and mutual understanding.”

Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew have met together frequently since Pope Francis’ election, including during the Pope’s visit to a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos April 16. They have also met in Jerusalem, Rome and Constantinople.

These meetings “not only strengthened our spiritual affinity, but above all deepened our shared understanding of the common pastoral responsibility we have in this moment in history, before the urgent challenges that Christians and the entire human family must face today,” Francis said.

The Pope highlighted the “shared commitment” between the two leaders, exemplified in the two joint statements they signed in Jerusalem and Phanar to build a world “more just and more respectful of dignity and fundamental freedoms, the most important of which is the freedom of religion.”

Benedict XVI, who first met Bartholomew in 2002, while still Cardinal Ratzinger, said he also was immediately moved by the personal warmth and openness of the patriarch.

“It did not take a great effort to draw close to one another. His interior openness and his inspired simplicity suffered a welcoming intimacy.”

The meeting took place on a train to Assisi for the international prayer meeting with Pope John Paul II. “For me,” Benedict wrote, “this meeting – along the way – it’s more of an accidental expression of the state of faith.”

Pope Francis also compared unity between the Eastern and Western Churches as a gradual journey.

“The Church of Rome and the Church of Constantinople are joined by a deep and ancient bond that not even centuries of silence and misunderstanding have been able to break,” he said.

They now have “the sacred task to walk back along the path that led to the separation of our churches, healing sources of our mutual estrangement, and to proceed towards the restoration of full communion in faith and love, conscious of our legitimate differences.”

Francis praised the patriarch’s commitment to increasing awareness regarding the “protection of creation,” saying that they were “fundamentally united” in this commitment.

“I found a deep spiritual sensitivity in Patriarch Bartholomew for the painful condition of humanity today, so deeply wounded by unspeakable violence, injustice and discrimination.”

Patriarch Bartholomew has also praised Pope Francis on several occasions, notably for his humility, his care for the environment, and his concern for the plight of Christians in the Middle East.

“This is precisely why the path toward unity is more urgent than ever for those who invoke the name of the great Peacemaker,” Patriarch Bartholomew said Nov. 30, 2014, and prayed that restoration of full communion between the Catholic and Orthodox churches “will not be prolonged.”

He urged greater collaboration, saying that “we no longer have the luxury of isolated action” due to the current persecution of Christians, who are targeted regardless of which church they belong to.

The two leaders “are both greatly troubled by the grave sin against God, which seems to grow by the day, which is the globalization of indifference before the disfigurement of the image of God in man,” Francis said.

“It is our belief that we are called to work for the construction of a new civilization of love and solidarity.”

“We are both aware that the voices of our brothers and sisters, now at the point of extreme anguish, force us to move more quickly on the path of reconciliation and communion between Catholics and Orthodox, so that they can credibly proclaim the Gospel of peace that comes from Christ.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope’s Iraq envoy says peace stifled by lack of ‘political will’

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 17, 2016

Archbishop Alberto Ortega, Nuncio to Iraq. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Archbishop Alberto Ortega, the Pope’s Apostolic Nuncio in Iraq and Jordan, has said that in the midst of a drawn-out humanitarian crisis and ongoing feelings of mistrust and betrayal, Christians can be a sign of reconciliation where political efforts continue to fall short.

In order for current conflicts destroying much of the Middle East to come to an end, “there is first of all the political will,” Archbishop Ortega told CNA in an interview.

“If the international community, if they really want to make peace, to promote peace, they can engage more intensively and to reach the agreements necessary to reach peace,” he said, stressing that dialogue is also important.

However, in order for dialogue to be effective, one must “put aside personal interests or the interests of a group or of a country, (and) put in the center the attention to the people, to every single person, because behind all these numbers … there are concrete people with a face and a family.”

Christians, he said, can play a “very important role,” especially in the context of the Holy Year of Mercy.

“Even if as a number they are a minority, they can play a very important role as wielders of reconciliation, of peace, of unity, as they have done in the past,” he said, adding that “they have always been a factor of stability and a factor of development in the country.”

Archbishop Ortega was present in Rome for a Sept. 29 symposium on the humanitarian crisis in Iraq and Syria, organized by the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.

Marking the fifth such meeting, the symposium gathered 80 representatives from various Catholic charitable organizations in the Middle East, as well as those in religious congregations who work in crisis areas.

The archbishop provided participants with an update on the humanitarian crisis in Iraq, and how the Church has responded.

In his comments to CNA, he said spoke not only about the concrete material needs of the Iraqi people, but also how each person can work to overcome the general attitude of mistrust that has developed in the region, explaining that peace can and must be achieved at both a political and individual level.

Please read below for the full interview with Archbishop Ortega:

CNA: Can you tell us from your perspective on the ground, what are the most immediate needs of the people?

I think there are many needs from the humanitarian point of view. For example in Iraq there are 10 million who are in need of humanitarian assistance. That’s a lot, that’s nearly one-third of the population. There are 3.5 million internally displaced, and there are also many needs from other points of view, especially the need for reconciliation. There is lack of unity, many tensions among different groups, so the biggest need for me is the need of reconciliation and that all groups can build society together, that they agree, at least on the principals, to work together. If they work together it’s easier also to overcome terrorism and extremism. But it’s so important that they work together and look for the common good of the population.

CNA: Trust has been a big issue. Do you think people in this area will eventually be able to trust one another again?

I think this is a big challenge but it is the only way. In this aspect, in this Year of Mercy, mercy is the solution to the problems. Because after so many years of tensions, of conflicts, you need to move forward and the only way is to forgive. At the end, mercy is the only way to reconciliation. In this aspect the Christians can play a very important role. Even if as a number they are a minority, they can play a very important role as wielders of reconciliation, of peace, of unity, as they have done in the past. They have always been a factor of stability and a factor of development in the country.

CNA: Are people on the ground hopeful to be able to return home soon?

There are different kinds of people. Some of them are very tired after so many years, because the last problem with the Islamic State is just the last development of many other problems. Since many years they are suffering the consequences of one war after another, so some of them are tired and they are looking forward to going abroad. Other people, they are very attached to their roots and they want to remain there. We encourage, especially the Christians, we encourage them to remain there because we think that their presence is so important for the country. Not just for the Church, that is so important, but also for society because they can play a very important role. And to encourage them to remain I always tell them that they have a very special mission that no one can play in their place. They have a special mission of being Christians in the Holy Land, of being Christians in a context that is difficult but is very necessary.

CNA: In his speech to conference participants the Pope spoke about the need for peace at both a political and individual level. What is needed at a political level to have peace, and what can each person do?

I think that at a political level there is first of all the political will. Because if the international community, if they really want to make peace, to promote peace, they can engage more intensively and to reach the agreements necessary to reach peace. But also dialogue is so important, and to put aside personal interests or the interests of a group or of a country, to put in the center the attention to the people, to every single person, because behind all these numbers or big themes of people suffering, there are concrete people with a face and a family, and every one of them is important. So I think if we put them in the main point of reference, it’s not so difficult to reach an agreement to obtain peace and stability.

CNA: From your perspective as someone living in the midst of the situation, is there a specific message you have on behalf of the Christians in Iraq?

It’s important to work together. And to transmit this necessity of continuing to help these people, to assist these people, with prayers and spiritual assistance, but also with concrete assistance … to contact authorities, to engage more in promoting peace and development. Also because it’s the best way to avoid the problem of migration. Instead of trying to cover the emergency here (in Europe), to try to solve the problems at the root so that people don’t have to leave their countries.

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VATICAN NEWS

Cardinals up in arms over new ‘McVatican’ proposal

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 18, 2016

(Hakan Dahlstrom via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Vatican City — The decision to open a McDonald’s restaurant inside a Vatican property just around the corner from St. Peter’s Square has been met harsh criticism from cardinals who live in the building.

But the man in charge of rolling out the project says the plan is moving forward despite disagreement.

Dubbed by some as “McVatican,” the new restaurant will be located in a Vatican property on the intersection of Rome’s Via del Mascherino and Via Borgo Pio, literally around the corner from the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica.

After having received numerous requests from different companies to move into the empty space, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), which oversees the Vatican’s assets, decided to rent it to McDonald’s for 30,000 euros a month.

In an interview with Italian newspaper La Reppublica, Italian Cardinal Elio Sgreccia, president emeritus of the Pontifical Academy for Life, called the deal “a controversial, perverse decision to say the least.”

The presence of the fast-food chain so close to the Vatican, he said, “is not at all respectful of the architectural and urban traditions of one of the most characteristic squares overlooking the colonnade of St. Peter visited every day by thousands of pilgrims and tourists.”

Cardinal Sgreccia called the deal “a business decision that, moreover, ignores the culinary traditions of the Roman restaurant.”

The “mega sandwiches” on the McDonald’s menu are a hazard to peoples’ health, he said, adding that because of this, the “questionable” activity shouldn’t even be a consideration for Vatican property.

In addition to Cardinal Sgreccia, who rumored to have written a letter of protest to the Pope, other cardinals living in the building have also voiced their discontent. Concern has arisen over what will become of the homeless who have been living outside the building, some of them for years, but who will be forced to leave once the restaurant is constructed.

Cardinal Sgraccia told La Reppublica that in addition to being a “disgrace,” the McDonald’s would have been better used as a space used for “activities in defense of the needy in the area, hospitable areas of welcome and help for those who suffer, as the Holy Father teaches.”

However, despite the aggravation of cardinals living inside the building, Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, president of APSA, has been unsympathetic, and said he doesn’t see what the problem is.

Also speaking to La Reppublica Oct. 15, Cardinal Calcagno responded to criticism surrounding the McDonalds by saying that everything was done “in respect of the law and that there will be nothing done which will go against the current rules, tradition and interests of the Holy See.”

“Above all there is respect for the law. Then the rest comes,” he said, explaining that APSA is “not prepared to make any step backward because everything is in order.”

Cardinal Calcagno said he is unaware of any letters supposedly written to the Pope. While he is aware of how his brother cardinals feel, “we are free people” and everyone has “the right to express their own views,” he said.

“We can’t all be in agreement on everything,” he said, explaining that as president of APSA, “I do not see anything negative in this initiative. The technical departments of APSA have felt the offer of the American company executives fair and just. I do not see any scandal.”

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VATICAN NEWS

A lesson from one of the Church’s newest saints

by CNA/EWTN News • October 18, 2016

St. Jose Sanchez del Rio banner in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 16, 2016. (Martha Calderon/CNA)

Vatican City — When we find ourselves weary from the troubles of life, we can find inspiration in the heroism of one of the Church’s new saints, said Cardinal Alberto Suarez Inda of Morelia, Mexico.

From its inception, “the history of the Church is the history of a martyr Church,” the cardinal told CNA. He pointed to the persecutions of the first Christians – including Peter and Paul – and those that took place in Korea, Japan, and even in countries with deep Catholic roots such as Spain and Mexico.

Still, the cardinal continued, “many of us don’t have the grace of a bloody martyrdom.” However, we are called “to be heroic every day, in ordinary life, and this calls us to not falter, to not be carried away by some trend, but to stand firm in the faith when there are more subtle persecutions.”

Cardinal Suarez reflected on the life of Jose Sanchez del Rio, who was canonized by Pope Francis on October 16, alongside 6 other Blesseds.

St. Jose Sanchez del Rio was born in Sahuayo de Morelos, Mexico in 1913. During the 1924-1928 religious persecution by Mexican President Plutarco Elías Calles, St. Jose became a Mexican Cristero, fighting against the anti-Catholic legislation.

At that time, the laws banned religious orders, deprived the Church of property rights and denied priests civil liberties, including the right to trial by jury and the right to vote. As the restrictions on religious liberty increased, Catholics could be fined or imprisoned for teaching Church doctrine, wearing clerical attire, meeting together after their convents were disbanded, promoting religious life or holding religious services in non-church locations.

At age 14, St. Jose was martyred by the Federal Army on Feb. 10, 1928. According to witness accounts, soldiers cut off the soles of his feet and forced him to walk barefoot to his grave.

Although he was tortured, he refused to renounce his Catholic faith. Moments before he was killed, the teen shouted, “Viva Cristo Rey!” which means “Long live Christ the King!”

Cardinal Suarez pointed to the story of the young saint as an example of Christian courage.

“Jose Sanchez del Rio, who in a courageous, generous and determined way, preferred to die for Christ, longed for martyrdom as a grace; and now that Pope Francis is canonizing him today, we can certainly recognize that we have a great intercessor and a great example for youth,” he said.

The cardinal recalled that the religious persecution in Mexico was a “bitter, dramatic epoch.”

Nevertheless, he said, “God’s providence has left (the Mexican martyrs) as the seed of many new, authentic Christians, and certainly young people like Jose Sanchez del Rio are a cause for holy pride. Not a conceited pride, but that of knowing that a young person can be brave, can be clear-sighted.”

Seeing heaven as an opportunity and refusing to turn back are a witness to us today that “what is truly worth most in life, more than money, is the treasure of our faith,” Cardinal Suarez said. He added that this also an example for Mexico today, “where they put a price on the lives of some people.”

The cardinal encouraged the faithful not to grow weary from routine, or a worldly spirit, or ideological colonization.

“We need to react and be truly faithful to Jesus in virtue, in an attitude of trust in God and also in facing all those obstacles presented to the Christian life in today’s world in whatever time or environment,” he said.

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VATICAN NEWS

The reality of poverty is challenging, but don’t avoid it, Pope says

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • October 19, 2016

Pope Francis greets pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square during the Wednesday General Audience on May 28, 2014. (Daniel Ibáñez/CNA)

Vatican City — On Wednesday Pope Francis said that while donating money to charity might make us feel good, seeing real poverty in the flesh is a challenge we have to face, rather than trying to avoid it.

“Poverty in the abstract doesn’t challenge us, it makes us think, lament, but when you see poverty in the flesh of a man, woman or child, yes, this challenges us,” he said Oct. 19.

To see our brothers and sisters in this state, he said, questions “the attitude we have to run away, the attitude of running away from the needy and not drawing near to them.”

Pope Francis’ comments were made during his catechesis for the general audience, which centered on the passage in James 2 that says “faith without works is dead.” In particular, Francis highlighted the corporal works of mercy of feeding the hungry and giving drink to the thirsty.

When faith is dead, it is “incapable of doing works, of charity.” There is always someone who needs our help, our words and our commitment, the Pope said, stressing that we cannot delegate this job to someone else.

“One of the consequences of so-called ‘well-being’ is to lead people to withdraw into themselves, making them insensitive to the needs of others.”

This model deceives us, making us live as if our lives were “a fad to follow and change with every season,” he said, adding that reality is “not so,” and “must be accepted and dealt with for what it is, and often there is the need to meet urgent situations.”

Frequently we do not encounter the hungry and thirsty in person, but merely hear about sad news or see sad images in the media, Francis explained, noting that often these images move us and encourage us to donate to charity.

This is important, because it can help many, but it “perhaps does not involve us directly,” he pointed out.

“But when, going down the street, we cross a person in need, or a poor man comes knocking at the door of our house, it is very different,” because we are “no longer in front of an image, but we are personally involved. There is no longer any distance between me and him or her.”

It is important to question ourselves honestly about what we do in these situations, the Pope said, asking: do we look away or step around the person? Do we stop what we are doing to help? Or do we try to get rid of them as soon as possible?

“The experience of hunger is tough,” especially for those who have lived through times of war or famine, he said, “yet this experience is repeated every day” with the poor living “next door to abundance and waste.”

“Think for a moment,” he continued. “How many times do we pray the ‘Our Father,’ and yet we do not really focus on those words: ‘Give us this day our daily bread?’”

Quoting Pope Benedict XVI’ encyclical “Caritas in Veritate,” Pope Francis said that feeding the hungry is “an ethical imperative for the universal Church” and “it is therefore necessary to cultivate a public conscience that preserves food and access to water as universal rights of all human beings, without distinction or discrimination.”

“This is why feeding the hungry and giving drink to the thirsty are included among the corporal works of mercy,” the Pope said, telling pilgrims to refrain from putting “a bit of makeup on the reality of the needy” in order to hide from one’s own responsibility.

However, story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes gives us all hope for how we can help, he said, explaining that “it tells us that the little we have, if we entrust it to the hands of Jesus, and we share it with faith, becomes a superabundant wealth.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Nuclear weapons offer only illusory peace, Holy See tells U.N.

by CNA/EWTN News • October 19, 2016

A nuclear bomb explosion near Bikini atoll on March 26, 1954. (National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office)

New York City, N.Y. — The apostolic nuncio to the United Nations again stressed the need for nuclear weapons disarmament on Monday, with the worldwide adherence to the non-proliferation treaty a step to this goal.

“Nuclear arms offer a false sense of security and the uneasy peace promised by nuclear deterrence is a tragic illusion.” Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the apostolic nuncio heading the Holy See’s permanent observer mission to the United Nations, said Oct. 17.

“Nuclear weapons cannot create a stable and secure world. Peace and international stability cannot be established on mutually assured destruction or on the threat of total annihilation. Lasting peace cannot be guaranteed by the maintenance of a balance of terror,” he added.

Instead, peace must be based on justice, socio-economic development, freedom, human rights, and building trust between peoples, the archbishop told a session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City.

“The indefinite possession of nuclear weapons is morally wrong,” he added, deeming this an affront to the “entire framework of the United Nations” and a contradiction to its vocation of service to humanity and the global common good.

He cited Pope Francis’ September 2015 address to the U.N. The Roman Pontiff stressed the “urgent need to work for a world free of nuclear weapons” and backed the non-proliferation treaty as a step towards “a complete prohibition of these weapons.”

Archbishop Auza lamented resistance to the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which requires nuclear states to divest themselves of their nuclear arsenals. He said this resistance undermines the credibility of boycotts, threats, and other forms of persuasion against countries suspected of developing nuclear weapons.

He called on the committee to redouble its efforts to help the U.N. General Assembly secure a legally binding prohibition on nuclear weapons.

Archbishop Auza said that nuclear deterrence doctrine has made it more difficult to achieve nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament.

It also raises the possibility that nuclear weapons will be deployed intentionally or by accident.

“The task we face is arduous and the challenges are multifaceted, but we must face them with hope, resolve and confidence,” the nuncio said. “The Holy See echoes the cry of humanity to be freed from the specter of nuclear warfare. It is important for every schoolchild to know that a nuclear war would have horrendous consequences for people and the whole planet.”

The archbishop noted the Holy See’s regular support for nuclear disarmament anti-proliferation treaties and its participation in conferences on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons.

Archbishop Auza recounted the long history of the papacy’s opposition to nuclear warfare.

In February 1943, Venerable Pius XII voiced deep concern about the violent use of atomic energy and later responded to the atomic bombings at the close of World War II.

“After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, observing the totally uncontrollable and indiscriminate consequences of nuclear weapons, Pope Pius XII demanded the effective proscription of atomic warfare, calling the arms race a costly relationship of mutual terror,” the nuncio said.

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VATICAN NEWS

Global progress for children is stalled by war, Holy See tells U.N.

by CNA/EWTN News • October 19, 2016

12-year-old twins from the old city of Homs stand near garbage outside a dilapidated building. (UNICEF)

New York City, N.Y. — Progress for the world’s children has left out the young victims of war, conflict, and poverty, the Holy See has told the United Nations.

“The dramatic progress made in the reductions in child mortality and increased access to schooling and safe drinking water must strengthen our resolve to bring similar progress to areas in which millions of children still suffer extraordinary indignities each day,” Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the apostolic nuncio leading the Holy See’s permanent observer mission to the U.N., said Oct. 13.

“Millions more children are caught in situations of conflict, trapped in situations of extreme poverty or live in areas of extreme environmental vulnerability. These harrowing situations of children remind us to commit ourselves to fighting the root causes of their sufferings,” the nuncio said in an intervention before a committee of the U.N. General Assembly on the promotion and protection of the rights of children.

“The Holy See notes with particular sadness that the primary cause of today’s mass displacements of populations is man-made: namely, wars and conflicts,” he continued.

Of the 50 million children who have been displaced from their homes, 28 million have been displaced by conflict. Children make up as much as 40 percent of some conflicts’ victims.

“Never in recent memory have so many children been subjected to such violent brutality: children used as soldiers, suicide bombers, sex slaves, and disposable intelligence-gatherers in the most dangerous military operations,” Archbishop Auza said. “The deliberate destruction of their schools and hospitals in total disregard of international humanitarian law has become a strategy of war.”

The nuncio stressed the global responsibility to help these children: “Since human choices provoke conflicts and wars, it is well within our power and responsibility to address the conflicts and wars that drive millions to become refugees, forced migrants and internally displaced persons, including millions of children.”

The archbishop said the Holy See has made pleas for a common commitment from individual governments and the international community to bring an end to violence, conflict, and hatred.

“While we wait for an end to these conflicts, it is nevertheless urgent to collaborate to alleviate the sufferings of children caught in the snares,” he said.

At the same time, Archbishop Auza found encouragement in research that showed a more than 50 percent reduction in the rate of child mortality under five.

“In the last 15 years, all regions in the world registered major progress in child survival rates. These improvements were particularly significant in sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.

Maternal mortality has also undergone significant reduction, decreasing by 43 percent.

“School enrollment, access to safe water and a number of other vital and social indicators also showed steady progress. While these advances happened in a variety of contexts, indicating that progress can be achieved in highly differentiated economic, social and political environments, they were even more impressive in some of the world’s poorest countries,” he said.

At the same time, 16,000 children die every day, often from preventable or treatable causes. Half of the deaths of children under five years old are due to malnutrition and under-nourishment. The existence of about 33 percent of the world’s children are not officially recorded, depriving them of an official nationality and name. Millions of children are infected with HIV; about one third of women aged 20-24 were child brides; and violence against girls is a major problem, according to the archbishop.

“The grave humanitarian crises in many regions of the world have exacerbated this already disheartening picture,” Archbishop Auza said. “Fifty million children around the world are on the move. They are running from conflict, extreme poverty and various forms of abuse and exploitation.”

The numbers of child refugees have increased dramatically. As many as 90,000 unaccompanied children were detained at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2014, a major jump over previous years.

The migrant and refugee crisis in the Mediterranean Sea was shown in one two-day period this year when 10,000 people were rescued from sinking boats. Of these, 20-40 percent were unaccompanied children.

Refugee and migrant children, especially when unaccompanied, face dangers like human traffickers and other forms of exploitation.

“When a boat sinks, they are the most likely to drown. They are the first ones to suffer hunger and thirst. They are the most vulnerable to extreme weather as they move through deserts and forests,” said the archbishop.

These children need protection and are entitled to the rights guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, he added, stressing the urgent need to ensure measures and policies are in place wherever these children may be found.

The nuncio also spoke of other the violations of children’s rights, like child labor. He cited Pope Francis’ appeal to the world to renew its efforts “to remove this cause of modern slavery, which deprives millions of children of some fundamental rights and exposes them to serious dangers.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Ratzinger prize recipients include first-ever Orthodox winner

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

Pope Benedict XVI on Aug. 28, 2010. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — Among the recipients of this year’s Ratzinger Prize is Greek-born Orthodox professor Ioannis Kourempeles, who is widely known for his extensive teaching career and work in dogmatic theology.

The two winners of the 2016 prize were announced Oct. 18, and, in addition to Kourempeles, include Italian priest Msgr. Inos Biffi, whose career has focused largely on the history of theology and medieval philosophy.

Born in Athens in 1965, Kourempeles studied Theology at the Faculties of Theology in Thessaloniki, Erlangen and Heidelberg before going on to teach the History of Dogmas and Dogmatic and Symbolic Theology at the Faculty of Theology of the “Aristotle” University of Thessaloniki.

He is the first-ever Orthodox to be awarded the Ratzinger Prize.

Msgr. Biffi originally comes from the northern Italian city of Lomagna. He was born there in 1934 and is professor emeritus of Systematic Theology and the History of Medieval Theology at the Theology Faculty of Northern Italy. He is also professor emeritus of the same subjects at the Faculty of Theology of Lugano.

He is currently also a member of the Pontifical Academy of Theology, president of the Institute for the History of Medieval Theology of Milan and director of the Institute of the History of Theology at the Faculty of Theology in Lugano.

Pope Francis himself will award the two theologians the Ratzinger Prize inside the Clementine Hall of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace Nov. 26, at the close of an international symposium dedicated to “Eschatology: Analysis and Perspectives.”

The Ratzinger Prize was begun in 2011 to recognize scholars whose work demonstrates a meaningful contribution to theology in the spirit of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Bavarian theologian who became Benedict XVI. The prize is awarded by the Ratzinger Foundation, which was founded in 2010 with Benedict XVI’s approval to study and promote his writings as a theologian, as a cardinal in charge of the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, and as Pope.

Set to take place at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce, the conference marks the 6th such international symposium the Ratzinger Foundation has hosted. This year’s theme of eschatology was particularly prominent in the theological writings and research of the organization’s protagonist, Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI).

Apart from discussing eschatology in the faith and in the Church, the symposium will also feature two workshops, one of which is dedicated to current questions surrounding eschatology, while the other will present the prospects of eschatology in Judaism.

Participating in the workshop will be the Chief Rabbi of Rome Riccardo Di Segni, the Chief Rabbi of Genoa Giuseppe Momigliano.

Other professors participating will include: Paul O’Callaghan, Thomas Söding, Romano Penna, Bernardo Estrada, Maurizio Marcheselli, Giovanni Ancona, Riccardo Battocchio, Santiago Del Cura Elena e Robert Wozniak.

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VATICAN NEWS

Vatican, Al-Azhar to officially resume dialogue

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

Pope Francis meets with the grand imam Sheik Ahmed Muhammad Al-Tayyib at the Vatican on May 23, 2016. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — On Friday the Vatican announced they will be sending a representative to Egypt to set plans for the official re-launching of dialogue between the Holy See and the Al-Azhar Mosque and adjunct University, marking a seismic step in Catholic-Muslim relations.

In an Oct. 21 communique, the Vatican said the secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Bishop Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, will be heading back to Cairo for an Oct. 23 meeting with a delegation from Al-Azhar.

He will be accompanied by Msgr. Khaled Akasheh, head of the council’s Office for Islam; Bishop Emmanuel Ayad Bishop of Luxor, Egypt; Professor Joseph Maila, an expert in Islamic Studies and Fr. Jean Druel, O.P., Director of the Dominican Institute of Oriental Studies.

According to the communique, the meeting in Cairo is to prepare for an encounter that will take place in Rome, “probably toward the end of April 2017, and which marks the official resumption of dialogue between the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and Al-Azhar.”

The visit to Cairo will also serve as an opportunity to evaluate, together with Archbishop Bruno Musarò, nuncio to Egypt, and the Deputy of the Great Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheik Abbas Shouman, “the possibility to promote concrete initiatives for peace.”

Bishop Ayuso made a similar visit to Al-Azhar in July, where he met with Sunni academic and politician Mahmoud Hamdi Zakzouk that to discuss the formal resumption of dialogue between the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and Al-Azhar University. The current Oct. 23 meeting, then, can be seen as a fruit of that encounter.

The Imam of al Azhar, currently Ahmed al Tayyeb, is considered by some Muslims to be the highest authority the 1.5-billion strong Sunni Muslim world and oversees Egypt’s al-Azhar Mosque and the prestigious al-Azhar University attached to it.

Founded in the Fatimid dynasty in the late 10th century together with the adjoining mosque, the university is one of the most renowned study centers for the legal principals of Sunni Islam.

Al Tayyeb paid a visit to the Vatican May 23 for a meeting with Pope Francis, which marked a major step in thawing relations between the al-Azhar institution and the Holy See, which were strained in 2011 with claims that Pope Benedict XVI had “interfered” in Egypt’s internal affairs by condemning a bomb attack on a church in Alexandria during the time of Coptic Christmas.

In an interview with Vatican Radio published May 24, Al Tayyeb spoke out harshly against terrorism carried out by extremist Islamic groups such as ISIS, saying that “those who kill Muslims, and who also kill Christians, have misunderstood the texts of Islam either intentionally or by negligence.”

“We must not blame religions because of the deviations of some of their followers,” he said, and issued a global appeal asking that the entire world to “close ranks to confront and put an end to terrorism.”

If the growing problem of terrorism is neglected, it’s not just the east that will pay the price, but “both east and west could suffer together, as we have seen.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis: Where are vocations from? An encounter with God

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

Pope Francis meets with members of the International Congress of Vocation Ministry in Vatican City on Oct. 21, 2016. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — When it comes to promoting vocations in the Church, Pope Francis said it all begins with an encounter with God – and that pastoral ministry in the area should focus on listening to youth and being there to answer their questions.

Pointing to his own papal motto “Miserando atque eligendo,” meaning “he sees by having mercy and choosing,” the Pope said Oct. 21 that he chose the motto “in memory of my youthful years in which I strongly felt the call of the Lord.”

The call, he said, “didn’t occur as a result of a conference or a beautiful theory, but by having experienced the merciful gaze of Jesus on me.”

Francis confessed that when he hears words used in common Church-speak such as “vocational ministry,” he is always “a little afraid,” because the phrase “could make one think of one of the many sectors of ecclesial action, of a curial office or, rather, of setting up a project.”

While these are certainly important, the Pope stressed that “there is much more: vocational ministry is an encounter with the Lord!”

“When we welcome Christ, we live a decisive encounter which sheds light on our existence, pulls us out of the anguish of our small world and makes us become disciples enamored with the Master.”

Vocational ministry, he said, means learning the style of Jesus, “who passes in the places of everyday life, stopping without haste, and looking at his brothers with mercy, guiding them to an encounter with God the Father.”

Pope Francis spoke to participants in an Oct. 19-21 conference on vocational ministry, organized by the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy.

On Oct. 6 the Vatican announced “Young People, the Faith and the Discernment of Vocation” as the theme for the next synod of bishops, set to take place in 2018. The Pope’s speech to the conference participants, then, likely contains themes that will come up in the discussion.

In his address, Francis recalled how when Jesus first called the tax collector Matthew to be his disciple, he first went out to preach, then saw Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth and called him.

The Pope pointed to the three verbs of going out, seeing and calling, “which indicate the dynamism of every vocational ministry,” and offered a reflection on each.

When it comes to “going out,” he said one thing vocational ministry needs is “a Church in movement, able to expand its borders, measuring them not by the narrowness of human calculations or the fear of making mistakes, but on the large measure of the merciful heart of God.”

Vocations, he said, will never flourish as long as we stay closed inside “the comfortable pastoral criteria” of an “it’s always been done like this” attitude and if we aren’t “audacious and creative” in rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of how we evangelize.

“We must learn to go out from our rigidity which renders us incapable of communicating the joy of the Gospel, from standardized formulas that are often anachronistic and from preconceived analysis that pigeonhole people’s lives in cold schemes. Get out from all this,” he said.

Francis then turned specifically to the role of bishops and priests, telling them they are the ones primarily responsible for nourishing “Christian and priestly vocations.” This task, he said, “cannot be delegated to a bureaucratic office.”

“It’s sad when a priest lives only for himself, closing himself in the safe fortress of the rectory, of the sacristy or a small group of the ‘most faithful,’” he said, noting that the Gospel urges us to do otherwise.

The Pope pointed to the importance of seeing, noting how during his ministry, Jesus stops and meets the gaze of others “without haste. This is what makes his call fascinating and attractive.”

Unfortunately today’s face-paced world doesn’t always leave space for the internal silence “in which the call of the Lord resounds,” he said, cautioning that at times even in Christian communities we run the risk of being “taken in by the rush, excessively concerned about the things to do.”

By doing this, we risk falling into “an empty organizational activism, without being able to stop and encounter people,” Pope Francis said, noting that in the Gospel, we see that vocations begin from “a merciful gaze that rests on me.”

“This is how I like to think of the style of vocational pastoral,” he said, painting a picture of a pastor who is attentive, not in a rush and is able to stop, read situations “in depth,” and really enter into the lives of other people without ever making them feel threatened or judged.

A pastor’s gaze, he said, is “capable of inspiring awe for the Gospel, of awakening from the slumber into which the culture of consumerism and superficiality immerses us and arouse the authentic questions of happiness, above all in the youth.”

It’s also a gaze of a discernment that accompanies people without ever “taking possession of their conscience or pretending to control the grace of God,” Francis said, adding that this gaze must always be attentive and vigilant.

When it comes to priestly vocations and entrance into the seminary, the Pope begged bishops to “discern in truth” and to have “a shrewd and cautions gaze, without superficiality or shallowness.”

“Vigilance and prudence,” he said, stressing that the Church and the world “need mature and balanced priests, brave and generous pastors capable of closeness, listening and mercy.”

Francis then turned to action of calling, noting how it’s the typical verb used when referring to Christian vocations.

“Jesus doesn’t give long speeches, he doesn’t deliver a long program to adhere to, and neither does he offer ready-made answers,” he said.

What Christ wants is “to put people on the move, moving them from a lethal inactivity, breaking the illusion that it’s possible to live happily staying comfortably seated among one’s own securities,” he said, adding that the desire to seek is “a treasure” often found in the most young.

This gift must be cared for and cultivated in order to bear fruit, the Pope said, explaining that “instead of reducing the faith to a recipe book or a set of rules to be observed,” pastors can help youth ask the right questions that will ultimately help them discover “the joy of the Gospel.”

He noted how times pastors and pastoral workers get tired or frustrated by not seeing results, but said that “if we don’t close ourselves in complaints and continue to go out to announce the Gospel, the Lord will remain at our side and give us the courage to cast nets even when we are tired and deluded.”

Turning again to priests and bishops, Pope Francis urged them to persevere in making themselves close to others and in going out with a merciful gaze.

He told them not to be afraid of encounter or of announcing the Gospel, and not to be shy in offering youth the way of priestly life, “showing, above all with your joyful witness, how beautiful it is to follow the Lord and give him your life forever.”

“Vocational ministry is a fundamental task for the Church and calls into question the ministry of pastors and of laity,” he said, adding that “it’s an urgent mission that the Lord asks us to fulfill with generosity.”

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WORLD NEWS

Dutch want right-to-die for people who feel ‘their life is complete’

by CNA/EWTN News • October 15, 2016

(Unsplash/Catholic News Agency)

Amsterdam, Netherlands — The Dutch government is set to legalize euthanasia for people who don’t want to live anymore but are not necessarily terminally ill or experiencing extreme suffering.

In a briefing to parliament on Wednesday, the health and justice ministers said that people who “have a well-considered opinion that their life is complete, must, under strict and careful criteria, be allowed to finish that life in a manner dignified for them.”

The option would be limited to “the elderly,” though the briefing did not define an age limit.

The move is the latest expansion of the country’s euthanasia policy, which critics have already have said does not protect vulnerable populations, including children, the disabled and those with mental illnesses.

Earlier this year, critics decried a case in which a Dutch woman in her 20s was euthanized after her mental health condition was declared “insufferable” by a team of doctors and psychiatrists in the Netherlands.

She had suffered from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and other mental illnesses as a result of being a victim of sexual abuse. Multiple reports classified her condition as “incurable,” thus legally justifying the woman’s death by euthanasia under Dutch law. The woman was just one of many who have been legally euthanized due to mental illness since the law began.

The country’s law also provides provisions for children ages 12-15 to request euthanasia or assisted suicide with parental permission, a safeguard that does not apply to minors age 16-18. There is also a provision for newborn infants to be euthanized if a certain set of criteria are met.

The neighboring country of Belgium became the first country to legalize the euthanasia of minors without an age limit, with parental consent and the consultation of other medical professionals.

The Netherlands was the first country to decriminalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in 2002. Euthanasia differs from physician-assisted suicide in that a third party – a doctor, a family member – may administer lethal drugs to the patient. Under physician-assisted suicide, the patient’s doctor provides the means of death, such as lethal prescriptions, but legally only the patient can administer the drugs to themselves.

In 2002, the Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act decriminalized euthanasia and assisted suicide for physicians who were acting under a certain set of criteria, which included the nature of the patient’s request (that it be persistent and voluntary), that the patient’s suffering is unbearable with no prospect of recovery, and the conditions of the request were confirmed by at least two doctors.

According to reports from The Guardian, the new “completed life” proposal came as a surprise after a commission tasked with studying the policy concluded there was no need for it.

But the health and justice ministers disagreed.

“The cabinet is of the opinion that a request for help (in dying) from people who suffer unbearably and have no hope without an underlying medical reason can be a legitimate request”.

The push for legal euthanasia and assisted suicide has increased in Western countries in the past few years. In June of this year, Canada legalized physician-assisted suicide, as did the state of California, joining the states of Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont.

Also in June of this year, Pope Francis denounced physician-assisted suicide as part of a “throwaway culture” that offers a “false compassion” and treats a human person as a problem. Addressing medical professionals from Spain and Latin America at the Vatican, the Pope criticized “those who hide behind an alleged compassion to justify and approve the death of a patient.”

“You are well aware of the meaning of the triumph of selfishness, of this ‘throwaway culture’ that rejects and dismisses those who do not comply with certain canons of health, beauty and utility,” he said.

“True compassion does not marginalize anyone, nor does it humiliate and exclude – much less considers the disappearance of a person as a good thing.”

The “completed life” extension is expected to go into effect in the Netherlands by the end of 2017.

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WORLD NEWS

Iraqis hopeful in battle for Mosul, yet cautious of what lies ahead

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • October 17, 2016

An Iraqi woman holding a rosary. (Elise Harris/CNA)

Erbil, Iraq — Hours after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced a ground offensive to retake Mosul from the clutches of Islamic State, a priest working in the thick of the country’s refugee crisis said people are happy with the advances, but unsure what the future will hold.

“We are so happy because yesterday the war began between the Iraqi army and the Peshmerga with ISIS,” Father Roni Momika told CNA Oct. 17.

He relayed how shortly before, they had received the “good news” that the ancient Monastery of the Martyrs Saint Behnam and his Sister Sarah, also known as the Mar Behnam monastery, near Nimrud “is free,” though it has suffered significant damage from Islamic State forces.

There are still many Christians living in the villages surrounding Mosul, he noted, but said soldiers from the Iraqi army and the Kurdish Peshmerga are with them.

“We hope that (soon) we will hear good news about Qaraqosh, a big center for Christians, that it will be free and that there is no ISIS there,” he said, but admitted that it might not be that easy.

Fr. Momika is a Syriac Catholic priest serving in the Kurdish capital of Erbil, where he works in the city’s Aishty camp for the displaced.

He and his sister were among the victims wounded in a 2010 bombing of buses transporting mainly Christian college students from the Plains of Nineveh to the University of Mosul, where they were enrolled in classes.

In 2014, while he was in seminary, Momika and his family were forced to flee Qaraqosh, also known as Bakhdida, when Islamic State militants attacked, taking over the city after storming it in the middle of the night with bombs and gunfire.

Since his seminary was closed following Islamic State’s assault, he completed his studies in Lebanon, and returned to Iraq for his diaconate ordination, which took place March 19. On Aug. 5 he was ordained a priest in the Aishty camp, where he continues to serve the people by leading women’s groups and working with youth.

He said the people are happy the offensive has finally started and are hopeful of returning home, but cautioned that going back “is very dangerous now because we don’t know if our homes and churches have been destroyed or bombed,” or if there are mines hidden throughout their cities.

If the effort to liberate Mosul is successful, “I think it will take some time” to go back, the priest said, explaining that if they see that the situation is safe “we will go,” but if they see that things aren’t safe, they will have to stay until things are more stable.

Fr. Momika spoke to CNA shortly after Al-Abadi announced the start of the highly-anticipated offensive to retake Mosul, which has been months in the making, in the early hours of Monday morning. Mosul has been under the control of the Islamic State since June 2014.

According to the Guardian, in a televised address Al-Abadi told Iraqi citizens that “we have been battling ISIS for more than two years. We started fighting ISIS in the outskirts of Baghdad, and thank God we are now fighting them in the outskirts of Mosul, and God willing the decisive battle will be soon.”

“These forces that are liberating you today, they have one goal in Mosul which is to get rid of Daesh (ISIS) and to secure your dignity. They are there for your sake,” he said.

In addition to the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, U.S. troops, British and French Special Forces, and a number of Turkish soldiers are supporting the Iraqi army in the battle, which is expected to take between several weeks to several months to complete, the Guardian reports. Many of the Iraqi troops are based in Qarrayah, a town 45 miles south of Mosul which was recaptured in August.

Mosul is the last major stronghold the Islamic State has in Iraq. They have been steadily retreating since the end of last year in battles against Iraqi and Peshmerga forces, as well as airstrikes from the U.S-led coalition.

For several days Mosul has been surrounded by some 30,000 ground troops who were prepping for the initial attack.

As a warning to the roughly 600,000 residents left in Mosul, a city of 2 million before Islamic State’s 2014 assault, the Iraqi government Sunday dropped thousands of leaflets throughout the city warning civilians to avoid certain parts of the city, and cautioned them not to listen to rumors spread by the Islamist militants that could cause panic.

The Guardian reports that Islamic State is estimated to have nearly 6,000 fighters ready to defend Mosul.

Rueters News reports that the Mosul offensive is the one of Iraq’s largest military operations since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Should the battle for Mosul be successful, Islamic State’s last main stronghold will be Raqqa in Syria.

However, given the number of civilians left in Mosul and the ease with which Islamic State militants commit human atrocities, several organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross and the U.N., have said they are bracing for a severe humanitarian crisis in which up to 1 million people could be left homeless, displaced, or used as human shields.

According to Rueters, there are already more than 3 million people who have displaced inside Iraq due to conflicts with the Islamic State.

In his comments to CNA, Fr. Momika said while the people are hopeful that the battle will be successful, they know that their homes and cities will not be in the same state when the fled two years ago, and are prepared to start again from zero.

“If all is bombed, as it is now in Qaraqosh, they will have destroyed everything,” he said, “They will have destroyed our homes, the churches, schools, pharmacies, hospitals.”

With nothing left, the priest said they will need many things, including money, to rebuild, and that “our youth, they will build and do everything.”

“Please pray for us,” he asked, explaining that there are still Christians in Iraq who want to stay.

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WORLD NEWS

Syrian priest who escaped ISIS: ‘Our world needs a revolution against violence’

by Berthold Pelster (Aid to the Church in Need) • October 18, 2016

Fr. Jacques Mourad, who was held captive by the Islamic State for nearly five months in 2015. (Aid to the Church in Need)

Homs, Syria — Father Jacques Mourad was prior of the Mar Elian monastery, a pilgrimage centre near Al Quaryatayn, about 65 miles southeast of Homs, until he was abducted by Islamic State militants in May 2015. He managed to escape after nearly five months of captivity, yet that August the Islamic State had captured Al Quaryatayn and destroyed the monastery. The city was later liberated by Syrian forces, in April 2016.

Now based in Europe, Father Mourad spoke Oct. 17 with international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need about the situation in Syria.

ACN: In early April 2016, Al Quaryatayn was finally freed from ISIS. How is the situation there now?

The city may have been liberated, but normal, everyday life is not yet possible. Most houses have been destroyed. But at least electricity and water have in the meantime been restored. However, most people have not yet returned to Al Quaryatayn. The fear that ISIS will come back is great.

ACN: The war in Syria continues unabated. Peace negotiations have repeatedly failed. Many people are fleeing, including Christians. How great is the danger that Christianity will be obliterated in the Middle East?

This obliteration has already become reality. There are regions in Iraq and Syria that no longer have any Christian inhabitants. But the people are not fleeing willingly. They have no other choice. This is especially true for the Christians in Syria, because we are a small minority. The violence that reigns in Syria is unbearable. I do not understand why other countries refuse to see this reality and take action. The world must finally react!

ACN: What actions are needed?

If the world is really serious about putting an end to the ravages of the fanatics, then it will have to stop doing business with Saudi Arabia. Because that is where the funding and weapons for ISIS are coming from. Bombing achieves nothing. The US has been bombing Syria and Iraq for years, and now the Russians are doing so, too. And what have they achieved? Have they stopped the terrorist violence? Absolutely not!

ACN: What is the solution?

The solution cannot be simply eliminating those who persecute us. The only way of stopping the extremists is to enter into a dialogue with Islam. That has been my personal experience. We – all the Christians of my old parish – decided not to resort to violence, even despite the danger. That is why we are still alive. An ISIS leader told us exactly that: “You ‘People of the Book,’ [the term used for Jews and Christians in the Koran] do not even use violence against us.”

ACN: Thus, non-violence and dialogue are what Christians can and should contribute?

Last spring, I had the following inspiration during Mass: our world needs a revolution against violence. Only then will it be able to find peace. We want to be instruments of peace. This is how we did it in Mar Elian – we provided aid to the local people without considering any distinctions of religion.

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WORLD NEWS

After deadly protests, religious leaders in Ethiopia call for peace

by CNA/EWTN News • October 18, 2016

(Coloneljohnbritt via Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — Religious leaders in Ethiopia have joined together to plead for peace amid ongoing protests that have sometimes resulted in deadly violence.

“We the religious leaders of Ethiopia firmly believe that peace is a priceless grace from God. It is possible to worship with a calm spirit only when there is sustainable peace,” the leaders of the Inter-religious Council of Ethiopia said. “We Ethiopians have lived together through the ages sharing our joys and griefs, problems and challenges; and we are still practicing the same values.”

The Catholic Church in Ethiopia is represented on the interreligious council. Its statement was published by the Catholic News Agency for Africa.

The interreligious leaders called on people of different religions to accept each other with mutual respect, forgiveness and mercy and unite for peace. They asked Ethiopians to “look at your fellow Ethiopians as brothers and sisters, to repent of hatred and chaos and present all your concerns peacefully.”

The religious leaders were “deeply saddened” by the violence at the Irrecha thanksgiving celebration on Oct. 2 at Bishoftu Town, about 30 miles southeast of Addis Ababa. Over 50 people were killed in a stampede when police tried to disrupt an anti-government protest taking place amid the festival. Several people were hospitalized with severe injuries.

Anti-government protesters had approached a festival stage where religious leaders were speaking. In response, police fired teargas and rubber bullets at the protesters and shot live rounds into the air.

Protesters blamed police for causing the stampede. Clashes between protesters and security forces continued the next day.

President Mulatu Teshome Wirtu blamed the stampede on “some hooligans.” The Oromia region’s spokesman’s office, Fikadu Tessema, also blamed the stampede on the protesters.

Since November 2015, there have been sometimes violent protests in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. Protesters have called for wider political freedom and the release of detained opposition figures and journalists, the Associated Press reports.

Ethiopia’s government is accused of suppressing dissent and blocking access to the internet.

The leaders of the Inter-religious Council of Ethiopia said they have repeatedly asked Ethiopia’s prime minister and government officials to listen to people’s concerns and to respond immediately.

“We have also called on the faithful on different occasions to observe fasting and prayer for peace and calm,” they said. “Nevertheless, the peace of our country has declined from time to time.”

They stressed the sanctity of human life and the need for all parties to respect the right to life. They also called for compensation for the families of those who had lost their lives and for those whose property was damaged.

The religious leaders stressed the government’s responsibility to calm conflict. Local and international mass media and social media should avoid transmitting “messages that promote hatred, conflict and violence.”

In addition, the religious leaders recommended the establishment of a “peace taskforce” with religious leaders, elders, academics and business people from different parts of the country to advance national understanding, reconciliation and psychological relief.

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WORLD NEWS

The Memorial of Moses reopens, where he viewed the Promised Land

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • October 19, 2016

The view of the West Bank and Israel from Mount Nebo. (Quantestorie via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Amman, Jordan — After 10 years of renovations the Memorial Sanctuary of Moses on Mount Nebo has reopened, highlighting the importance of sacred art and holy spaces in the preservation of the faith.

Mount Nebo is where, according to tradition, Moses beheld the Promised Land before his death. The 2,680 foot high ridge is located about 20 miles southwest of Amman, the Jordanian capital, and affords views of the West Bank and Jerusalem.

“Through religious art, men both celebrate their faith and leave a sign of it for future generations,” Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, said at the celebration of the reopening Oct. 15. The cardinal was serving as papal envoy at the event.

“We wish to reaffirm here together the invaluable role of culture and art: they express the nobility of the soul of man of every age. Let us endeavor to commit ourselves to its preservation, especially when it expresses the tending of the human heart towards the Absolute.”

He said that “with this gesture, the Holy Father, to whom we turn our grateful thoughts, intends to pay tribute to the importance of this symbolic place, which serves as a crossroads of dialogue and encounter for the three great monotheistic religions, all of which were born in this beloved Middle East.”

“The figure of Moses, as a prophet, friend of God and giver of the law, is indeed held in high esteem by our Jewish, Christian and Muslim brothers.”

Jordan gained custody of the Holy Land in 1932 thanks to the presence of King Abdullah I, Cardinal Sandri noted. The Franciscans took charge of the ruins excavated by archaeologists from the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem.

Despite disruptions of war, Cardinal Sandri said the intense work of the decades since then have made it possible to “bring to light the historical and spiritual treasures that this place holds, and which today are returned to Jordan and to humanity in a definitive and renewed installation.”

In a time when many treasures of religious history from the region are being looted or destroyed, such as the tomb of the prophet Jonah, Cardinal Sandri expressed his gratitude and appreciation for all those who dedicated themselves to the cause of reopening the memorial.

From Mount Nebo, Cardinal Sandri said, “our gaze reaches to the lands that we inwardly contemplate.”

“The Kingdom of Jordan, which, extending its boundaries nearly to this mountain, has become in recent years a place of welcome, hospitality and healing for thousands of refugees and exiles from the suffering lands of Palestine, Syria and Iraq.”

The shrine is a place “of healing for souls and bodies, and a place of refuge for all who come here from every part, afflicted in soul and burdened by all manner of bodily suffering,” Cardinal Sandri said, quoting a text from the 5th century.

In 1933, on the highest point of the mountain, the remains of a 4th century Byzantine church and monastery commemorating the place of Moses’ death, were discovered. The church, designed in the typical style of a basilica, was enlarged in the late 5th century and rebuilt in 597.

Six tombs have been found hollowed in the natural rock beneath the mosaic-covered floor. In the newly opened sanctuary they have preserved remnants of the mosaic floors from different periods, including the earliest of these, which is a panel with a braided cross.

Both St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI visited the site. St. John Paul II visited on March 20, 2000 during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. As a symbol of peace, he planted an olive tree beside the Byzantine chapel as a symbol of peace.

When Benedict XVI visited the site in 2009 he gave a speech and looked out from the top of the mountain in the direction of Jerusalem.

Thinking of the many refugees and exiles from Palestine, Syria, and Iraq, Cardinal Sandri asked that the international community and everyone responsible for peoples, commit to working for peace.

“Namely,” he said, “that as Moses contemplated the entrance of the Chosen People to the Promised Land, so also we may see the day soon break, when the promise of reconciliation between peoples will be realized, and a lasting abode of justice and peace will be built.”

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WORLD NEWS

When it comes to Venezuela, new Jesuit head ‘critical’ of Maduro regime

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

Father Arturo Sosa, the newly elected Superior General of the Society of Jesus, prepares to say Mass at the Gesu in Rome on Oct. 15, 2016. (GC36 via Flickr)

Rome, Italy — A fellow Jesuit who has known Fr. Arturo Sosa for more than 50 years has said the newly elected head of the order, while not always explicitly vocal, is critical of the current socialist government in Venezuela pioneered by Hugo Chavez.

“(Father) Sosa thinks that in countries where everything depends on the government, true democracy is impossible,” Fr. Francisco Javier Duplá told CNA Oct. 19.

This goes for the current situation of Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government in Venezuela, he said, adding that Fr. Sosa has been “more critical than with Chavez.”

A professor for 30 years at the Andrés Bello Catholic University in Venezuela (UCAB), one of the country’s largest universities, Fr. Duplá had Fr. Sosa as a student in Spanish literature when the latter was just 16-years-old.

The two lived together for three years while Fr. Sosa was a philosophy student at UCAB, and Fr. Duplá served under Fr. Sosa during his time as provincial in Venezuela from 1996-2004.

Fr. Duplá said that during Fr. Sosa’s time as provincial, under Chavez’s socialist regime, Fr. Sosa believed the late president’s intention “was sincere.”

“Perhaps it was so,” he said, but noted that it didn’t take Fr. Sosa long to realize that “things in Venezuela weren’t going to change.”

Fr. Sosa “was not openly critical” of Chavez from the beginning, because he expected the dictator “would modify his posture,” Fr. Duplá said. However, “Chavez was captured by strong adoration of himself.”

Though he didn’t necessarily criticize Chavez publicly, Fr. Sosa wrote a number of articles in the Jesuit-run magazine “SIC,” in which “he criticized the course of government’s measures,” Fr. Duplá said, naming the so-called “misiones” of Fidel Castro, which offered food and medicine to the poor but demanded a total acceptance of their political ideas, as an example.

Run by the “Gumilla Center of Investigation and Social Action”, which was founded by Jesuit priest Fr. Manuel Aguirre Elorriaga in 1938 to fight inequality, the SIC magazine features several pieces from Fr. Sosa both during his time as the publication’s director from 1979-1996, as well as his time as provincial.

In the aftermath of Chavez’s stormy reign and the takeover of his successor, Nicolas Maduro, in 2013, Venezuela has been marred by violence and social and economic upheaval. Poor economic policies, including strict price controls, coupled with high inflation rates, have resulted in a severe lack of basic necessities such as toilet paper, milk, flour, diapers and medicines.

Venezuela’s socialist government is widely blamed for the crisis. Since 2003, price controls on some 160 products, including cooking oil, soap and flour, have meant that while they are affordable, they fly off store shelves only to be resold on the black market at much higher rates.

The Venezuelan government is known to be among the most corrupt in Latin America, and violent crime in the country has spiked since Maduro took office after former president Chavez died from cancer in 2013.

Demonstrations broke out in the country in January 2014 after Monica Spear, a former Miss Venezuela, was murdered along with her ex-husband on a highway near Caracas when their car broke down.

Protests intensified after the attempted rape of a student shortly after Spear’s death, and since then Maduro’s government has jailed many peaceful protestors and political opponents. The regime is known to have committed gross abuses, including violence, against those who don’t share their political ideologies.

As head of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Sosa “can influence changes in Venezuela in order to go out of this disastrous government,” Fr. Duplá said.

Fr. Sosa, 67, was elected as the 31st Superior General of the Jesuits Oct. 14, marking the first time a Latin American has led the Society; moreover, he takes the helm under the Church’s first Jesuit and Latin American Pope.

In an Oct. 18 news conference with journalists in Rome about election, Fr. Sosa spoke directly about the situation in Venezuela, explaining that the political movement Chavez pioneered and which is now headed by Maduro, is “based on revenues and doesn’t sustain itself, politically, economically, or ideologically.”

He said that neither does the Venezuelan opposition have a project that allows one to think “of a future that isn’t based on revenues, which is the only way to progress long-term and to better the situation of Venezuelans.”

To understand what is happening in Venezuela, he said, it’s necessary to remember that it’s a country which “lives on oil revenue, and that this oil revenue is exclusively administered by the state.”

“(This) makes the formation of a democratic society very difficult,” he said, explaining that “normally a democratic society has its foundation in that the state is subordinate to the citizens. In a democracy, it is the citizens who produce and maintain the state.”

However, in the case of Venezuela, “the fact that oil sales are exclusively directed by the state makes it the state that maintains society. Thus, this democratic creation becomes difficult,” Fr. Sosa said.

Despite Fr. Duplá’s personal experience with Fr. Sosa, some have claimed the new Jesuit father general’s position in politics, both now and in the past, is in fact aligned to the Chavez-Maduro regime, supporting Marxist principals promoted by Venezuela’s socialist government as well as a liberation theology rooted in Marxism.

Liberation theology sprung up in Latin America in the 1950s, and some forms were a Marxist interpretation of the Gospel, focusing on freedom from material poverty and injustice rather than giving primacy to spiritual freedom.

Under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith twice issued instructions regarding liberation theology: 1984’s Libertatis nuntius drew attention to “the deviations, and risks of deviation … brought about by certain forms of liberation theology which use, in an insufficiently critical manner, concepts borrowed from various currents of Marxist thought.” This was followed in 1986 by Libertatis conscientia, which presented Christian doctrine on freedom and liberation, and was meant to be read together with its predecessor.

In an Oct. 16 post on his blog “L’Espresso,” veteran Vatican analyst Sandro Magister said that in a 1978 article for the SIC magazine, Fr. Sosa had called a Marxist interpretation of the Christian faith and liberation theology both “legitimate” and “necessary.”

However, Magister is known not to be the most ardent admirer of some members of the Society of Jesus.

In the same article Magister refers to on his blog, Fr. Sosa explains that a Marxist interpretation of the Christian faith was “legitimate” in the sense that at the time, Christians existed who stuck to their faith, yet “at the same time proclaim themselves Marxist and are committed in the transformation of the capitalist society into a socialist society.”

Later on in the article Fr. Sosa said that “a Marxist meditation of the Christian faith would be the worst instrumentalization that could be done to a religion – in relation with God – which, in putting the Crucified Jesus at its center, breaks with any intent of a human construction of God and affirms him as the one who is always unprecedented in his potential.”

Referring to Fr. Sosa’s own position, Fr. Duplá said he wasn’t necessarily closed to liberation theology, and that when it comes to reconciling the idea with the Church, a careful, nuanced distinction must be made between the intent of liberation theology and its Marxist beginnings.

“There are many Jesuits sympathizing with liberation theology in its intentions, but not in its Marxist foundations,” Fr. Duplá said, explaining that in his perspective, liberation theology seeks “to give a religious basis to a better society.”

“Religious faith and justice must be together,” he said, adding that he believes Fr. Sosa’s own interpretation of liberation theology “follows this way” of thinking.

In his comments to journalists Oct. 18, Fr. Sosa said that although he was “very surprised” by his election as Superior General, he feels serene and grateful, and is ready to accept the task with joy.

He noted how the general congregation didn’t end with his election, but is in fact still rolling forward with the selection of his new “governing team” and the discernment of the path they will take in the future.

Fr. Sosa highlighted faith and spiritual depth as the “two legs” with which the Society walks in carrying out their mission, and which mark out the line he’ll take in moving forward in his role as Superior General.

While the way in which he will govern the Society is “still not clear,” Fr. Sosa stressed that “our mission is not being put into question.”

“The general congregations after the Second Vatican Council have defined our mission clearly: service of the faith and the promotion of justice, keeping in mind dialogue and cultural diversity. This remains undisputable for the Society,” he said.

The greatest challenge the Society faces today, he said, is that of “reconciliation … in all regions of the world they feel split, this deep wound that divides us and it is also felt in the face of serious situations.”

Conflicts such as the ones in Venezuela, Syria, Iraq, as well as “the wars which aren’t spoken of” and forced migration are all examples of the urgent need for reconciliation, he said.

“The Kingdom of God cannot be present, cannot exist among us if we don’t recognize it, if we can’t live in peace, if we can’t reconcile ourselves and if we can’t reconcile with the earth which we risk ruining,” he said, explaining that the call to reconcile is “a great challenge for us.”

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U.S. NEWS

For Archbishop Chaput, ‘Catholic Spring’ group did untold damage

by Kevin J. Jones (CNA/EWTN News) • October 14, 2016

Archbishop Charles Chaput. (Joaquín Peiró Pérez/CNA)

Philadelphia, PA — Archbishop Charles J. Chaput did not enjoy his first and only encounter with two leaders of Catholics United.

“It was an interesting experience,” Archbishop Chaput recounted in his Oct. 13 column for Catholic Philly magazine.

“Both men were obvious flacks for the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party – creatures of a political machine, not men of the Church; less concerned with Catholic teaching than with its influence,” he said.

“And presumably (for them) bishops were dumb enough to be used as tools, or at least prevented from helping the other side.”

Right now the group is in the news after being mentioned in a leak of emails published by the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks. The Feb. 10-11, 2012 emails were reputedly hacked from the account of John Podesta, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s current campaign manager, former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton, and past president of the Center for American Progress think tank.

Sandy Newman, president of the progressive organization Voices for Progress, wrote Podesta about the controversy over Catholic resistance to the Obama administration’s then-new rule mandating insurance plan coverage of contraceptives, including some drugs that can cause abortions.

For Newman, a longtime political actor who once hired a young Barack Obama for a voter registration project in Illinois in 1993, the controversy appeared to be a chance to foment revolution within the Church.

“There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic church,” Newman suggested to Podesta.

“Even if the idea isn’t crazy, I don’t qualify to be involved and I have not thought at all about how one would ‘plant the seeds of the revolution,’ or who would plant them,” Newman added. “Just wondering …”

To this email, Podesta responded:

“We created Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to organize for a moment like this. But I think it lacks the leadership to do so now. Likewise Catholics United,” Podesta replied, according to the email. “Like most Spring movements, I think this one will have to be bottom up.”

Podesta suggested consultation with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former Lt. Governor of Maryland and daughter of Robert F. Kennedy.

In his column, Archbishop Chaput recounted his visit from two young men from Catholics United just weeks before the 2008 presidential election between Barack Obama and John McCain.

The two men “voiced great concern at the manipulative skill of Catholic agents for the Republican Party,” Archbishop Chaput reported. “And they hoped my brother bishops and I would resist identifying the Church with single-issue and partisan (read: abortion) politics.”

“Yet these two young men not only equaled but surpassed their Republican cousins in the talents of servile partisan hustling,” the archbishop charged. “Thanks to their work, and activists like them, American Catholics helped to elect an administration that has been the most stubbornly unfriendly to religious believers, institutions, concerns and liberty in generations.”

“I never saw either young man again. The cultural damage done by the current White House has – apparently — made courting America’s bishops unnecessary,” the archbishop lamented. “But bad can always get worse.”

The archbishop noted other emails in the leak showing staffers at the Center for American Progress insulting Catholics and Catholic converts, claiming they “must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy.”

He cited a letter from a nationally prominent non-Catholic attorney experienced in Church-State relations. The attorney declared the emails “some of the worst bigotry by a political machine I have seen … (a) Church has an absolute right to protect itself when under attack as a faith and Church by civil political forces.”

He suggested it would be nice if former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repudiated its content: “All of us backward-thinking Catholics who actually believe what Scripture and the Church teach would be so very grateful.”

Yet Archbishop Chaput appeared no friendlier to Clinton’s leading rival. He recounted a friend’s description of the leading political candidates: “A vulgar, boorish lout and disrespecter of women, with a serious impulse control problem; or a scheming, robotic liar with a lifelong appetite for power and an entourage riddled with anti-Catholic bigots.”

The archbishop lamented that in a country where the concept of choice is “the unofficial state religion,” the menu is “remarkably small.”

His unnamed attorney interlocutor also reflected on the state of the country, saying that before the leaks there was been “strong evidence” of the current administration’s hostility to religious organizations.

“Now there is clear proof that this approach is deliberate and will accelerate if these actors have any continuing, let alone louder, say in government,” the attorney said, according to the archbishop’s column.

The attorney charged there is an active strategy to shape Catholicism into the religion the political leaders wish.

“Look where we are now. We have political actors trying to orchestrate a coup to destroy Catholic values, and they even analogize their takeover to a coup in the Middle East, which amplifies their bigotry and hatred of the Church,” the attorney said.

After 2008, Catholics United would go on to run efforts in Colorado and in Pennsylvania critical of the Catholic Church. It would also go on to take funding from the Gill Foundation of Tim Gill, a politically savvy Colorado-based millionaire businessman, and from the Arcus Foundation of billionaire heir Jon Stryker. Both men are deeply influential LGBT activists involved in funding Catholic dissenting groups and efforts to restrict religious freedom they consider discriminatory.

Catholics United’s aligned organization, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, received hundreds of thousands of dollars from billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations from 2006-2010.

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U.S. NEWS

Why Planned Parenthood’s 100-year anniversary is no occasion to celebrate

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • October 16, 2016

A student-organized rally against Planned Parenthood at the U.S. Capitol on July 28, 2015. (Addie Mena/CNA)

Washington D.C. — As Planned Parenthood celebrates the centennial of the opening of its first birth control clinic, pro-life leaders are condemning the abuses of the nation’s largest abortion provider.

“Planned Parenthood’s 100-year anniversary is a tragic milestone for our nation and a reminder of the millions of unborn children who will never have a birthday,” a joint statement from pro-life leaders on the anniversary read.

“We mourn these children, as well as the women who have been hurt and exploited by the nation’s largest abortion chain.”

October 16 marks the 100-year anniversary of the founding of Planned Parenthood. It began as a birth control clinic in Brooklyn opened by Margaret Sanger. It is now the nation’s largest abortion provider, performing over 300,000 abortions annually in the United States.

The organization is running a #100YearsStrong campaign, highlighting its role in providing access to birth control and abortion for women.

“Planned Parenthood’s story began 100 years ago with a radical idea. That access to sexual and reproductive health care had the power to change lives and the world,” the group stated. “Planned Parenthood – once a single health center, is now known and trusted for it’s [sic] sexual and reproductive health care.”

It also touted other health services it provides. “We’re the largest source of sexual education in the country and an essential provider of cancer screenings, diagnosis and treatment of STIs, and other preventive care – as well as a catalyst for laws and policies that ensure equal access to health care and reproductive freedom.” While saying it’s a “provider of cancer screenings,” Planned Parenthood’s clinics actually provide only referrals for screenings.

And although Planned Parenthood casts itself as a health care provider, a coalition of pro-life groups has started a #100YearsOfAbuse campaign to bring to light how the group profits from abortion while claiming that it is only a small part of their health care package.

Members of the coalition include the groups Alliance Defending Freedom, Americans United for Life, the March for Life, the Family Research Council, the Pro-Life Action League, Radiance Foundation, Students for Life of America, and Susan B. Anthony List.

The website includes videos of how Planned Parenthood “double-dips” by receiving compensation for abortions from mothers and for fetal tissue from tissue procurement companies, and how their income from tax dollars, while not going directly to abortions, is fungible – it frees up other resources for abortion services.

The 100-year anniversary is no occasion for celebration, pro-life leaders insisted.

“It’s a pretty somber milestone in American history,” Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, told CNA.

When Sanger founded the first clinic she was “advocating that certain types of people were unfit to procreate,” Hawkins said. Then Planned Parenthood pushed for abortion “for those children they were unable to stop from being conceived,” she added.

As the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood continues this work today – even while receiving taxpayer dollars – the pro-life leaders said.

The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal taxpayer dollars from funding elective abortions, and Planned Parenthood claims the money – mostly from Medicaid reimbursements and health grants – does not directly fund abortions. Planned Parenthood received over $500 million in taxpayer funding in the 2014-15 fiscal year.

“In the last three years alone, Planned Parenthood has committed nearly one million abortions while receiving a total of $1.5 billion from the American people, against our will. We represent the growing number of Americans who oppose Planned Parenthood’s extreme abortion agenda and seek to defund this abortion giant,” the pro-life leaders’ statement read.

In 2015, undercover videos released by the citizen journalist group Center for Medical Progress showed Planned Parenthood executives discussing the pricing of fetal tissue with actors posing as representatives of tissue procurement companies.

Although Planned Parenthood has not been found breaking the law by multiple congressional investigations, the videos sparked a conversation about the group and its purported mission of being a vital health care provider for women.

“I think it’s really important for pro-lifers to keep talking about Planned Parenthood,” Hawkins said, noting that the conversation has quieted down in recent months.

“The election’s kind of taken some of that wind and steam away from that movement, and I think that’s really helped them,” she said.

Abby Johnson is a former Planned Parenthood clinic director who quit her job after watching an abortion there on ultrasound. She is the foundress of And Then There Were None, a group which helps abortion clinic workers leave the industry.

She says she saw firsthand the abuses and “deceit” at Planned Parenthood, and expressed her sadness at having worked for them for eight years.

“For 100 years, Planned Parenthood has told women that they aren’t strong enough to be mothers or achieve their goals. For 100 years, PP has treated women as commodities and exploited them in order to increase their business revenue,” she said in a written statement.

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Church’s fear of ‘civil rights’ prosecution justified, Iowa court says

by CNA/EWTN News • October 17, 2016

(Jim Lopes via Shutterstock)

Des Moines, Iowa — A church’s lawsuit may go forward because it reasonably feared that Iowa’s strict anti-discrimination law would create legal penalties for its preaching and for having single-sex bathrooms and showers, an Iowa court has ruled.

“The government acts outside of its authority when it attempts to control churches,” said Steve O’Ban, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom. “Neither the commission nor any state law has the constitutional authority to dictate how any church uses its facility or what public statements a church can make concerning sexuality.”

O’Ban represented Fort Des Moines Church of Christ in U.S. district court. The church is suing based on fears the state’s anti-discrimination policy on gender identity and sexual orientation would make it legally liable for preaching and following its views on homosexuality and transgender issues – including having single-sex bathrooms.

Judge Stephanie Rose of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa rejected state officials’ request to dismiss the church’s lawsuit Oct. 14. She agreed with the church that the law had a chilling effect on its speech.

Although the court denied the church’s request for a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the law, it allowed the lawsuit to proceed because the church’s fear of prosecution was “objectively reasonable.”

The church’s policy is likely permitted under the law because the policy is “plainly drafted to serve a religious purpose,” the ruling said. At the same time, the court said state and city officials’ statements that the law doesn’t apply to the church have little weight because they do not prevent officials from enforcing the law.

Christiana Holcomb, legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, said the lawsuit was necessary.

“Churches should be free to talk about their religious beliefs and operate their houses of worship according to their faith without fearing government punishment,” she said.

O’Ban added: “As the court found, government bureaucrats don’t get to decide which church activities have a religious purpose; that’s for the church to decide.”

Earlier this year the Iowa Civil Rights Commission produced a guide to Iowa law for public accommodations providers concerning sexual orientation and gender identity.

The brochure-sized guide said the 2007 Iowa Civil Rights Act applies to churches “sometimes.” It acknowledged that the law does not apply to religious institutions in the matter of a “bona fide religious purpose,” but appeared to open the door to prosecution.

“Where qualifications are not related to a bona fide religious purpose, churches are still subject to the law’s provisions. (e.g. a child care facility operated at a church or a church service open to the public),” the pamphlet said.

It barred harassment including “intentional use of names and pronouns inconsistent with a person’s presented gender.”

According to the commission, the law requires locker rooms, restrooms, and living facilities in places of public accommodation to be open to persons based on their self-identified gender identity.

Those who believe they have been discriminated against may file a complaint with the civil rights commission. The pamphlet said it was designed for educational purposes only and not intended to be legal advice.

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The dark side of a D.C. bill that no one wants to talk about

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • October 18, 2016

The United States Capitol building. (Orhan Cam via Shutterstock)

Washington, D.C. — Treatable depression, financial gain from a patient’s death, doctors who can write a fatal prescription with little knowledge of the person it’s for – all things that supporters of physician assisted suicide in the District of Columbia would perhaps prefer not to discuss.

But as the city council in the nation’s capital may soon legalize the procedure, both the Church and local citizens have taken up arms to label it as prejudiced against the “most vulnerable.”

The bill is immoral, unethical, and unjust, said Dr. Lucia Silecchia, a law professor at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law, and a D.C. citizen.

“Thus, while the Catholic and Christian understanding of the dignity of human persons, made in the image and likeness of God undergirds the moral critique of such statutes, the medical opposition long predates Christ, and the legal objections should compel anyone who observes how easily disregard for the life of one spreads,” she stated to CNA.

On Oct. 18, the city council for the District of Columbia voted to put legalization of physician-assisted suicide on their legislative agenda. The bill was introduced in January 2015 by Mayor Muriel Bowser.

In the summer of 2015, citizens of the city showed up in large numbers to support or oppose the bill; a public hearing went on for hours as many advocates, one after another, insisted that the city not legalize the measure.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington has been outspoken against the measure, and other assisted suicide measures that have been introduced in states around the country in what he called “a concerted aggressive campaign … which plays on people’s darkest fears and exploits their vulnerabilities to advance ideas and practices that have long been understood to be grave infamies opposed to human dignity and which poison human society.”

What is at stake is nothing less than how society views human life, he maintained.

“We are facing a seismic shift in how we, as a society, will look at life in the future and, even more frightening, what powers the state will have to determine who lives and who dies,” he said.

“We are all responsible for working to protect all human life until it ends naturally, until the time that God alone appoints for our departure. It is not for us to decide the hour, we are not the arbiters of life and death.”

The D.C. bill is flawed for a number of reasons, Silecchia explained to CNA.

For one, any two physicians could write a prescription for a fatal drug overdose request, no matter how little they know the patient. Also, if patients are refused their request by their primary care physician, they could just seek out another doctor who may not know them well, but will write them a prescription.

“This undermines the dignity of those who suffer by suggesting to them – while they are most vulnerable – that their lives no longer have value,” she said.

Witnesses of the patient’s consent could be an “interested party” – someone who could benefit financially or personally from the patient’s death – Silecchia noted, raising even more ethical challenges to the proposal.

Also, the measure may apply disproportionately to the “most vulnerable,” like low-income or elderly persons who feel they may be a “burden” to friends and family as they become sicker, and those suffering from mental illness like depression or anxiety, she explained.

Herbert Hendin, M.D. has written on the psychological issues surrounding patients with terminal diagnoses. In his book Seduced by Death, he explained how many of these patients, when they fear a terminal diagnosis, desire to end their lives – but many of them are suffering from a curable mental illness that can be treated.

It’s not the fear of death that exacerbates their psychological condition, but rather the fear of dying, he explained, when “patients displace anxieties about death onto the circumstances of dying: dependence, loss of dignity, and the unpleasant side effects of medical treatments.”

The advocacy group “Not Dead Yet” has also claimed that such fears drive a patient’s desire to die, noting that “among the top five reasons given” for a fatal prescription request “are feelings of being a ‘burden on others’ (41%) or feeling a ‘loss of autonomy’ (92%) or ‘loss of dignity’ (78%).”

“These are not about pain from a terminal disease, but are psychological and social issues that cry out for meaningful supports and genuine care,” the group continued.

“Yet the assisted suicide law does not even require disclosures about consumer controlled home care options to address feelings of loss of autonomy or feelings of being a burden on family, much less require that those services be provided.”

“When these fears are dealt with by a caring and knowledgeable physician, the request for death usually disappears,” he added.

In his experience treating these patients, Hendin found that when a patient chose treatment over a fatal prescription and resolved his fears – as well as unresolved conflicts he may have had with friends or family – he greatly appreciated his final months to do so, even if he experienced physical suffering in that time.

And, some warn, the legalization of assisted suicide actually opens the door for the normalization of other dark practices like euthanasia.

When a patient expresses a desire to die but chooses to wait until they are further along in their sickness to take the prescription, the ethical lines can become blurry as to whether that action was their own decision made with a clear mind, or was the decision of their friends and family who pressured them, while under extreme duress, into taking the medication.

The state of New York Governor Mario Cuomo’s own task force pointed to the possibility of this scenario in their 1994 guidelines “When Death Is Sought,” updated in 2011.

“Even if the law is never changed to sanction involuntary euthanasia, the potential for abuse would be profound,” they wrote. This is because “once euthanasia is established as a ‘therapeutic’ alternative, the line between patients competent to consent and those who are not will seem arbitrary to some doctors,” including in some cases of patients who are “incapacitated” where their doctors will deem it therapeutic to give them a fatal dose of medication.

Leon Kass, who chaired President Bush’s Council on Bioethics from 2001-05, explained this from a doctor’s perspective in his work “Why Doctors Must Not Kill” – cited in the task force report.

“How easily will they be able to care for patients when it is always possible to think of killing them as a ‘therapeutic’ option?” he asked. “Physicians get tired of treating patients who are on their way down - ‘gorks,’ ‘gomers,’ and ‘vegetables’ - are only some of the less than affectionate names they receive from house officers.”

And an assisted suicide law could also disproportionately target minorities and the poor, the New York task force report argued, because everyday prejudices – from which physicians, however well-intentioned, “are not exempt” – will affect how doctors choose to treat patients – with their very lives at stake.

“Finally, it must be recognized that assisted suicide and euthanasia will be practiced through the prism of social inequality and prejudice that characterizes the delivery of services in all segments of society, including health care,” the report stated. “Those who will be most vulnerable to abuse, error, or indifference are the poor, minorities, and those who are least educated and least empowered.”

For example, the disproportionate number of minorities and poor persons who are executed by the state shows how policies like the death penalty are not immune from prejudice, the task force claimed. That injustice would not disappear under physician-assisted suicide, they added.

Someone who faces a terminal diagnosis is in a tough situation, Cardinal Wuerl acknowledged in a recent blog post on assisted suicide.

Yet the merciful response is not to give them a fatal dose of medication, he insisted.

“It cannot be denied that there are hardships in life, some of which seem to overwhelm us,” he wrote. “Whether experienced late in life, in a physical illness of a bout of mental depression, or in a crisis pregnancy, the human condition is for us all beset with trials and tribulations. In particular, the losses and changes associated with the progression of a terminal illness often contribute to psychological distress and feelings of worthlessness and despair.”

“A truly compassionate and merciful response to the sick and vulnerable is not to confirm these impulses by offering them a lethal drug,” he added, but rather “our response should be to draw them away from the edge, to help the vulnerable among us – regardless of their condition or circumstances – with genuine compassion and give them hope.”

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Insurance denied her chemo treatment. But it covered drugs for suicide

by CNA/EWTN News • October 19, 2016

(Bruce MacQueen via Shutterstock)

Orange, CA — Stephanie Packer cherishes every moment with her husband and four children. Living with a terminal illness in Orange, California, her goal is “to do everything I can to have one more second with my kids.”

When assisted suicide legislation was officially passed in California in 2016, Packer experienced the ultimate slap in the face: her insurance company denied the coverage of critical chemotherapy treatment that her doctors recommended for her condition.

Her insurance would, however, cover end-of-life drugs for just $1.20.

“It was like someone had just hit me in the gut,” said Packer, who shared her story in the new documentary, Compassion and Choice Denied.

Produced by the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network, the documentary details Packer’s experience of living with a terminal illness in an age where assisted suicide is cheaper than the fight for life.

Particularly concerning: the insurance company had initially suggested that they would cover the chemotherapy drugs. It was one week after assisted suicide was legalized that they sent Packer a letter saying they were denying coverage. Despite multiple appeals, they continued to refuse.

“As soon as this law was passed, patients fighting for a longer life end up getting denied treatment, because this will always be the cheapest option … it’s hard to financially fight,” Packer said in the documentary.

Physician-assisted suicide is legal in a handful of states, and is on the ballot for voters in Colorado this fall. The push to legalize assisted suicide has gained momentum since the high profile suicide of cancer patient Brittany Maynard in 2014.

Many prominent Catholic leaders, such as Pope Francis, have spoken out against assisted suicide, calling it “false compassion.” Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez has said that assisted suicide “represents a failure of solidarity” and abandons the most vulnerable in society.

“We are called as people to support each other, to hold each other’s hand and walk through this journey,” Packer said, adding, “I want my kids to see that dying is a part of life, and the end of your life can be an opportunity to appreciate the things you didn’t appreciate before.”

Packer leads support groups for individuals with terminal and chronic illnesses. She said there was a clear morale change in many of the group members when physician-assisted suicide became legalized in her state.

“Normally, we would talk about support and love, and we would be there for each other, and just encourage them that, you know, today is a bad day, tomorrow doesn’t have to be,” she said.

But when assisted suicide was legalized, individuals became more depressed, with some saying that they wanted to end their lives.

“Patients are going to die because of this,” Packer said. “Patients need to know what this means, and the public needs to know that it’s going to kill these patients because they aren’t going to get the treatment they need to extend their life.”

She also said that assisted suicide proponents have twisted the meaning of suicide to make it sound “sweet and pretty,” and have also redefined what it means to live with a terminal illness.

“It makes terminally ill patients feel ‘less than,’ that they are not worthy of that fight, that they’re not worth it,” she said.

Packer believes that end-of-life drugs should never “be supported by physicians or run by the government. That’s not okay … because it affects me negatively and affects my fight and my ability to stay here longer with my children.”

Packer pointed to other resources, saying that there is a whole treasury of support for terminal patients – financially, psychologically, physically, and even if patients just need someone to talk to.

While life-affirming palliative care remains an expensive medical cost, Packer recommended that more energy and resources fund hospice care, instead of making death the cheaper option.

“We can start to fix our broken health care system, and people will start to live instead of feeling like they have to choose to die.”

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Here’s a pre-election novena to Mary, patroness of the U.S.

by CNA/EWTN News • October 19, 2016

Immaculate Conception (La Colosal) by Bartolome Esteban Murillo. (Public domain/Wikipedia)

Washington D.C. — With the Nov. 8 election approaching, the Knights of Columbus have released a novena addressed to Mary, the Immaculate Conception, who is the patroness of the United States.

The novena consists of nine days of prayer, starting Oct. 30 and running through Nov. 7, the eve of the election.

In 1791, America’s first bishop, John Carroll, entrusted his diocese – which was the entire country at the time – to Mary in 1791. The U.S. bishops affirmed that dedication in 1846, declaring Mary the Immaculate Conception to be patroness of the United States.

The novena prayer comes from the 1959 dedication of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. It was approved that year by Cardinal Patrick O’Boyle, then-archbishop of Washington.

Parishes, Knights of Columbus councils, families and individuals are invited to participate in the novena.

“The Church teaches that Catholics are called to form their consciences based on Church teaching and vote in accordance with that well-formed conscience,” said Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson.

“Pope Francis has said in reference to the U.S. election that we should ‘study the proposals well, pray and choose with your conscience,’ and this novena is designed to help Catholic Americans do that.”

The text of the novena reads:

Most Holy Trinity: Our Father in Heaven, who chose Mary as the fairest of your daughters; Holy Spirit, who chose Mary as your Spouse; God the Son, who chose Mary as your Mother, in union with Mary we adore your majesty and acknowledge your supreme, eternal dominion and authority.

Most Holy Trinity, we put the United States of America into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present the country to you. Through her we wish to thank you for the great resources of this land and for the freedom which has been its heritage.

Through the intercession of Mary, have mercy on the Catholic Church in America. Grant us peace. Have mercy on our president and on all the officers of our government. Grant us a fruitful economy, born of justice and charity. Have mercy on capital and industry and labor. Protect the family life of the nation. Guard the precious gift of many religious vocations. Through the intercession of our Mother, have mercy on the sick, the tempted, sinners — on all who are in need.

Mary, Immaculate Virgin, our Mother, Patroness of our land, we praise you and honor you and give ourselves to you. Protect us from every harm. Pray for us, that acting always according to your will and the will of your divine Son, we may live and die pleasing to God. Amen.

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Kaine’s abortion stance an affront to reason, archbishop says

by CNA/EWTN News • October 19, 2016

Senator Tim Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential candidate. (George Sheldon via Shutterstock)

Kansas City, KS — Vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine’s stand in favor of legal abortion shuns consistency in reason and faith and ignores the pain abortion causes, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas has said.

“It was painful to listen to Senator Kaine repeat the same tired and contorted reasoning to profess his personal opposition to abortion while justifying his commitment to keep it legal,” the archbishop said, reflecting on Kaine’s abortion comments in the Oct. 4 vice presidential debate. He characterized the senator’s remarks as “the usual made-for-modern-media sound bites.”

Writing in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas’ newspaper The Leaven Oct. 14, Archbishop Naumann critiqued the senator’s “sound bite” comment that “it is not proper to impose his religious beliefs upon all Americans.”

“With regard to the imposition of religious beliefs, Senator Kaine appears to have no qualms with his public positions conforming with his religious beliefs with regard to such issues as the church’s opposition to racism or our preferential option for the poor.”

“He appears not to be conflicted with our public policies mirroring the Ten Commandments with regard to stealing, perjury, or forms of murder, other than abortion.”

In the Oct. 4 debate, Kaine professed support for Roe v. Wade, the United States Supreme Court decision that mandated legal abortion nationwide. He said he supported “the constitutional right of American women to consult their own conscience, their own supportive partner, their own minister, but then make their own decision about pregnancy.”

The archbishop commented, “It is difficult to imagine that Senator Kaine has not seen the ultrasound images of his children and grandchildren when they were in their mother’s womb. Is the senator unaware that abortion stopped the beating hearts of 60 million American children aborted legally since 1973?”

Archbishop Naumann asked, “Does anyone really have the choice to end another human being’s life? Our choices end where another individual’s more fundamental rights begin.”

The archbishop also questioned Kaine’s stand on conscience, given his support for forcing taxpayers to fund abortion and his support for rules that would coerce the Little Sisters of the Poor to provide abortifacients, contraceptives, and sterilizations in their health plans.

Kaine said it was not the role of a public servant who is a religious believer to mandate “the commands of your faith.”

Archbishop Naumann countered that although religion speaks about fundamental human rights, the right to life is not based in religion.

“As the Founders stated, these are self-evident truths. They are accessible to everyone through the use of reason. They do not require faith,” the archbishop said, adding that the American Founding Fathers “actually believed that the right to life is given to us by our Creator, not by the Supreme Court.”

The archbishop said that the senator was inconsistent in citing his religion, given that he follows Catholicism’s opposition to racism and preference for the poor.

“He appears not to be conflicted with our public policies mirroring the Ten Commandments with regard to stealing, perjury, or forms of murder, other than abortion,” he added.

In the debate, Kaine countered Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s early comments, later retracted, that women should be punished for having an abortion.

“Before Roe v. Wade, states could pass criminal laws … to punish women if they made the choice to terminate a pregnancy,” Kaine said.

According to Archbishop Naumann, decades of legal history show that this was “certainly not the case.”

“The laws were enforced against the abortionists,” he said. “Our own legal experience shows clearly that it is possible to develop public policies aimed at protecting children, not punishing women.”

The archbishop invited Kaine to speak with women who have had abortions and have sought the assistance of Project Rachel and other post-abortion ministries that help women and men find “healing, hope and mercy after an abortion.”

He blamed permissive abortion policy for placing the entire burden of an abortion decision upon the woman.

Archbishop Naumann noted Kaine’s expression of anguish when he enforced death sentences as governor and the impression that Kaine attempted to convince Virginians to abolish the death penalty.

But he said Kaine seems not to have made a similar effort to convince Virginians “to work for public policies that protect the lives of the unborn.”

“Instead, he appears eager to champion not only maintaining the status quo, but actually expanding abortion rights,” the archbishop charged.

Archbishop Naumann also acknowledged the tensions of the 2016 election year.

“This presidential election presents all Americans with a difficult choice. Both major political parties have nominated very flawed candidates,” he said.

He encouraged voters to think not only of the presidential candidate, but who they will appoint to “key Cabinet and other powerful government positions … We are choosing not just a president, but an entire administration,” he said.

The archbishop conclude by advising voters to “be wary of candidates who assume to take upon themselves the role of defining what Catholics believe or should believe. Unfortunately, the vice-presidential debate revealed that the Catholic running for the second highest office in our land is an orthodox member of his party, fully embracing his party’s platform, but a cafeteria Catholic, picking and choosing the teachings of the Catholic Church that are politically convenient.”

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What the George Soros network saw in a ‘Catholic Spring’ group

by Kevin J. Jones (CNA/EWTN News) • October 20, 2016

(Elena Dijour via Shutterstock)

Washington D.C. — A reputed “Catholic Spring” group played a key role in influencing Barack Obama’s controversial 2009 Notre Dame speech, and its campaigns “broadened the agenda” of Catholic voters to see abortion as just one of several election issues.

This is according to a leaked memo attributed to George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.

The group, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, was founded in 2005. While early backing from billionaire financier George Soros’ philanthropic network was previously reported, a 2009 memo leaked earlier this year seems to provide the foundations’ view of the group’s early activities.

“CACG has helped to transform Catholic values in the mainstream media and in the public discourse on religion and politics, thereby thwarting previously successful attempts by the conservative movement to use religious faith for partisan advantage,” said the memo.

The memo, dated Sept. 22, 2009, is attributed to the Open Society Foundations’ U.S. Programs’ Democracy and Power Fund. The memo, apparently a series of grant proposals, was posted to the website DCLeaks.com.

According to the memo, Catholics in Alliance played “pivotal roles” in 2009 during “critical Catholic moments” like President Barack Obama’s 2009 Notre Dame commencement speech.

President Obama’s controversial speech at the University of Notre Dame included the bestowal of an honorary degree on the new president. The action had drawn criticism from dozens of bishops who said it caused scandal and confusion. The bishops cited U.S. bishops’ 2004 document “Catholics in Political Life,” which said that Catholic institutions should not honor those who “act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles.”

Bishop John D’Arcy, who at the time headed the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, objected that the university in his diocese honored someone “whose activities both as president and previously, have been altogether supportive of laws against the dignity of the human person yet to be born.”

The Open Society Foundations memo praised Catholics in Alliance for “reframing” the abortion debate in terms of reducing abortions.

“Indeed, this reframing is where the group has showed some of its most successful policy influence within the new Obama administration: the President made this reframing the centerpiece of his much anticipated Notre Dame speech,” the memo said.

The memo lists Catholics In Alliance for the Common Good under the section “grassroots organizing and civic engagement.” It indicates the group received at least $450,000 in financial support from the massive George Soros philanthropy network from 2006-2010, when the foundations also operated under the name Open Society Institute (OSI).

The group is currently in the public eye because the site Wikileaks has posted alleged 2012 emails involving Hillary Clinton campaign chief John Podesta, who appears to state that Catholics in Alliance was founded to aid a “Catholic Spring” political revolution within the Church.

Christopher Hale, who became Catholics in Alliance’s executive director in late 2013, distanced himself from accusations he and his colleagues aimed to split the Church.

“We don’t concern ourselves with the internal politics of the Catholic Church,” Hale told CNA Oct. 17.

“I think that it’s important to distinguish the work of organizations from those who funded it or used to fund it,” he added. “No organization funders agree 100 percent with its activity.”

Catholics in Alliance has become more critical of powerful abortion groups in recent years

“I want to state categorically that we are pro-life. If anyone has doubts about that commitment, ask Planned Parenthood,” Hale said.

The group broke with many political progressives by criticizing Planned Parenthood following the release of investigative videos appearing to show the abortion provider breaking laws in selling harvested fetal tissue and body parts from aborted unborn babies.

According to the 2009 Open Society Foundations memo, Catholics in Alliance drew criticisms from pro-abortion rights groups like Catholics for Choice for its efforts to “play down abortion rights and reframe the debate in terms of reducing the number of abortions.”

“We believe that CACG’s reframing may actually be one of its strengths,” said the memo.

The Soros network typically supports abortion rights. The memo added: “We will continue to monitor this issue, but at this time feel that CACG’s position on choice is not at odds with OSI priorities.”

Catholics in Alliance’s politics-related actions also drew praise from the grantmaker.

“Unlike in 2004, CACG and the progressive faith community in 2008 provided a consistent counterpoint to the religious right-wing’s message in key media stories,” the memo said. “Importantly, CACG broadened the agenda of Catholic voters.”

Hale discussed Catholics in Alliance’s current view of the abortion debate.

“Catholics should definitely consider abortion as central component of the social teaching of the Catholic Church. But it is fair to say that it’s not the only issue,” Hale told CNA. “While abortion is very important to Catholic conscience, it can’t be the only issue,” he said.

“We’re proudly pro-life. That means more than pro-birth.”

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good has spoken up about a wide variety of political issues, criticizing the parties and platforms on both sides of the aisle. However, it has drawn criticism for its general avoidance of criticizing Hillary Clinton by name, while it has criticized Donald Trump on numerous occasions.

The Open Society Foundations’ memo said the group filled an important vacuum by “providing a progressive voice for Catholics.” It claimed that the group’s outreach to Catholic voters in 2006 and 2008 resulted in a situation where the Catholic population believed that “abortion is not the overriding issue at the ballot box” but took into account the moral questions of the economy, health care, fair wages and a just immigration policy.

The memo claimed proof of the group’s success in post-2008 election poll results. It highlighted the large majorities of Evangelical and Catholic voters who told pollsters people of faith “should focus on all issues that are central to their values, rather than focusing on one or two issues.” As evidence the memo also listed poll results showing voters made the economy, Iraq, health care, and terrorism their top issues, while only 14 percent named abortion and 6 percent same-sex “marriage.”

Catholics in Alliance also drew praise for its use of “robust media, grassroots, and collaborative strategies” to educate and mobilize “voters of faith in support of social justice.” The memo said the group had gained attention through circulating local letters, producing radio ads, websites and op-eds, booking commentators on cable television, and in major news coverage

The memo said another critical Catholic moment the group influenced in 2009 was the release of Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 encyclical “Caritas in Veritate,” but it did not specify any reasons for this claim.

The foundation memo said Catholics in Alliance fits into a broader strategy “to inspire greater public participation from mainstream and social justice oriented faith communities” on Open Society priority issues and also to “counter the outsize influence and impact of right-wing religious constituencies.”

Catholics in Alliance was mentioned in a recently leaked February 2012 e-mail exchange between Hillary Clinton’s present campaign manager, John Podesta, and Sandy Newman, president of the progressive organization Voices for Progress. They discussed the controversy over a federal rule requiring Catholic organizations to cover contraception.

Newman discussed the possibilities of a “Catholic Spring,” similar to Arab protests, to lead Catholics to demand “the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic church.” Newman wondered how one would plant “the seeds of revolution.”

Podesta responded by saying, “We created Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to organize for a moment like this.” At the same time, Podesta suggested it lacked the leadership to do so. He suggested former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend be involved.

Newman replied to Podesta: “Great. I suppose it’s conceivable that a few organizers could spark a high-profile demonstration or two (a la Occupy [Wall Street]) that might turn out to be the spark. But it is indeed a puzzle to figure out why some events, usually with very little planning, ignite a movement no one would have predicted, while other, far better planned things fashioned by experienced organizers don’t.”

As of 2009, Catholics in Alliance organized local Catholic activists to promote public policy. It followed a media organizing strategy to promote the voices of religious leaders, and conducted “strategic coordination and support of the Catholic social justice movement,” the memo said.

The memo praised Catholics in Alliance’s role in immigration reform and in states affected by immigration raids. According to the memo, the group planned to offer media training and leadership training for Latino faith leaders, including the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians, with a focus on immigration reform.

The memo named Catholics United as the group’s 501c4 sister organization. It claimed both groups had a combined membership of 60,000 and fundraising totals above $3 million as of 2009.

The memo also included a critical evaluation of Catholics in Alliance as an organization. It faulted the group for its alleged failure to incorporate and employ Latino Catholics, given demographic trends in Catholicism. The memo said the group was working to improve minority representation among Hispanics and people of color in its board of directors, its advisory council and its speakers’ bureau.

It said the departure of the group’s co-founder Alexia Kelley to join the Obama White House in 2009 left the group “without strong leadership.” Another co-founder, Tom Perriello, is mentioned in other documents in the Soros leak.

Another Soros foundations grantee, Faith in Public Life, is discussed in the 2009 memo for its role in media messaging on the University of Notre Dame controversy, stem cell guidelines, conscience protections for medical professionals, as well as issues like health care reform, climate change and immigration. Faith in Public Life is described as a partner organization for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.

The same document from the Soros foundations recommends a nearly $1.4 million grant to Podesta’s Center for American Progress and indicates previous Open Society Institute support for the center totaling nearly $5 million. It describes the Center for American Progress as “the most influential think tank in our funding universe.”

According to the memo, there is major foundation support for the center from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Humanity United Fund, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, among others.

Other more recent documents leaked from the Soros foundations indicate the grantmaker aims to change Ireland’s pro-life laws against abortion as a model for Catholic countries. The grantmaker also took part in a $7-8 million dollar effort to respond to 2015 media reports appearing to show the abortion giant Planned Parenthood was involved in the illegal sale of fetal tissue and organs.

The Open Society Foundations did not respond to a request for comment on the document. It has previously said a number of internal documents were removed from “an online community that served as a resource for our staff, board members, and partners across the world.” It charged that the publication of documents was an apparent symptom of “an aggressive crackdown on civil society and human rights activists that is taking place globally.”

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In final debate, candidates diverge sharply on abortion

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • October 20, 2016

Donald Trump (l) and Hillary Clinton (r). (Action Sports Photography and Krista Kennell via Shutterstock)

Washington D.C. — In the final presidential debate on Wednesday, the major party candidates were pressed to explain their positions on abortion. Hillary Clinton defended her earlier support of partial-birth abortion, while Donald Trump reiterated the assertion that he is pro-life.

“I am pro-life and I will be appointing pro-life [Supreme Court] justices,” Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, stated at the debate.

Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, said about mothers’ decisions to have abortions, “I do not think the United States government should be stepping in and making those most personal of decisions.”

Trump and Clinton debated for the final time on Wednesday evening at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. They answered questions from debate moderator Chris Wallace, anchor of “Fox News Sunday,” on topics including abortion, the Supreme Court, foreign policy, and health care.

The next president will appoint at least one justice to the Supreme Court. Early in the debate, Wallace pressed Trump on if, as president, he would want the Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Court’s 1973 decision that declared a woman’s “right” to an abortion existing under her right to privacy.

Trump said he would appoint pro-life justices, but stopped short of saying he wanted the Court to overturn the Roe decision. “If that would happen, because I am pro-life and I will be appointing pro-life justices,” he said, “it [the legality of abortion] will go back to the individual states.”

Clinton, for her part, declared her strong support for Roe and also for Planned Parenthood, the “reproductive health care” organization that is the nation’s largest abortion provider.

“So many states are putting very stringent regulations on women that block them from exercising their choices to the extent that they are defunding Planned Parenthood, which of course provides all kinds of cancer screenings and other benefits for women in our country,” she said. Planned Parenthood does not in fact provide cancer screenings, however, only referrals for screenings.

Wallace followed up by asking Clinton about partial-birth abortion: “You have been quoted as saying the fetus has no constitutional rights. You also voted against a ban on late-term partial-birth abortions. Why?”

Clinton defended her vote. “Because Roe v. Wade very clearly sets out that there can be regulations on abortion so long as the life and the health of the mother are taken into account,” she answered. “And when I voted as a senator, I did not think that that was the case.”

Trump then pressed Clinton on the issue of late-term abortion.

“If you go with what Hillary is saying, in the ninth month, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother, just prior to the birth of the baby,” he said. “Now you can say that that’s okay, and Hillary can say that that’s okay, but it’s not okay with me.”

Clinton disputed that description, dismissing it as “scare rhetoric,” but did not provide her own description of the procedure. Instead, she insisted that, for pregnant mothers, the decision to abort is “one of the worst possible choices” they could make, “and I do not believe the government should be making it.”

Abortion has been a contentious topic in this year’s campaign. Clinton has been a long-time staunch supporter of abortion. Trump has previously praised Planned Parenthood doing “very good work” for women and defended partial-birth abortion. During this campaign, however, he said he has had a change of heart and is now pro-life. He says he would support defunding Planned Parenthood of federal tax dollars.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List and leader of the Trump campaign’s pro-life coalition, said that “Clinton’s position on abortion is wildly out of step with the majority of Americans who support a compassionate limit on abortion after five months and who do not want their tax dollars used to pay for abortion on-demand.”

In her defense of legal abortion, Clinton also referenced her international travels as Secretary of State insist that government should not involve itself in a woman’s decision about her pregnancy.

She said that “I’ve been to countries where governments either forced women to have abortions, like they used to do in China, or forced women to bear children like they used to do in Romania.”

However, one human rights advocate – Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers – strongly contested Clinton’s claim that China “used to” mandate forced abortions, saying that their forced family planning policy still exists and that Clinton’s claim was “untrue and deeply disappointing.”

For decades, the Chinese Communist government had a mandatory one-child-per-family policy. Women found to be pregnant without a permit would be turned into to local authorities by their neighbors and would be forced to have abortions and be sterilized. As many families chose to have only a male child, a serious gender imbalance has resulted in China.

The Chinese government announced last year that it would allow families to have two children.

However, the forced abortions and pregnancy screenings continue, Littlejohn insisted. “Women of child-bearing age” undergo four pregnancy screenings per year, and married women cannot have more than two children, while single women cannot have any children, she said.

Although women who are illegally pregnant may be able to pay a fine instead of having an abortion, women who “cannot pay the fine – which can be as much as ten times her annual salary” must have an abortion. “Forced abortion, therefore, continues under the Two-Child Policy,” Littlejohn insisted.

“The Chinese Communist Party has not agreed to get out of the bedrooms of the Chinese people, and Presidential candidates should not be stating or implying that they have,” she said. “We need to keep the international pressure on the Chinese Communist Party until all coercive population control is eradicated.”

The debate also covered other topics, including immigration, the second amendment and ISIS.

At one point, Trump was asked by Wallace if, in the scenario he lost the election, he would concede it, given the country’s tradition of a “peaceful transition of power.”

Trump did not say he would concede if he lost. “I will tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense,” he said.

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Augustine Institute offering scholarships for a master’s in theology

by Maggie Maslak (CNA/EWTN News) • October 20, 2016

(Unsplash/Catholic News Agency)

Denver, CO — If you’ve been waiting for the extra push to pursue a master’s degree in theology, this scholarship opportunity might be exactly what you need.

The Augustine Institute’s Graduate School of Theology, a Catholic theological school offering formation in the New Evangelization, has announced its fourth annual St. John Paul II scholarship competition, in which four winners will be awarded full-tuition scholarships starting in the 2017-2018 academic year.

“The Institute is particularly looking for men and women with an ardent desire to proclaim the Truth of the Gospel in and through the spiritual and corporal works of mercy,” the Augustine Institute’s Academic Dean, Dr. Christopher Blum, told CNA.

“We are sure to have many more qualified applicants than we can bring to Denver as finalists, so the competition will be significant,” he said.

Over the past four years, the Augustine Institute – located in Denver, Colorado – has offered various students full-ride scholarship opportunities, which has proven successful for the Denver community, the Institute, and the scholars themselves.

“The John Paul II scholars have enjoyed remarkable internship opportunities here in Denver,” Dr. Blum noted.

“They have served as student-teachers in archdiocesan schools, missionaries with the homeless and college students, catechists at local parishes, and some we have placed with apostolates such as RealLifeCatholic or have been able to incorporate into the Institute’s own apostolic work,” he said.

When choosing among the many individuals who are eager to pursue a Master’s in theology, the Augustine Institute’s scholarship committee will screen the applicants and choose twelve finalists who will make the journey to Denver on January 12, 2017 for final interviews.

Dr. Blum said that “the deciding factor typically has to do with how applicants demonstrate their commitment to serve the Church’s mission of evangelization. Leading candidates have often spent several years working in parishes or schools or with apostolates of one kind or another.”

In addition, “the St. John Paul II award is bestowed on those students who demonstrate themselves to be devout servants of Christ and His Church and who show significant potential as leaders in the New Evangelization,” an Oct. 11 press release stated.

Although only four applicants are chosen for the full-tuition scholarships, many runner-ups are given the opportunity for partial scholarships to the Augustine Institute.

More information about the Augustine Institute and the St. John Paul II Scholarship is available here.

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Cardinal Dolan recaps Al Smith dinner: Awkward, but at least they prayed

by Kevin Jones (CNA/EWTN News) • October 21, 2016

2016 Al Smith Dinner, with Hillary Clinton, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, and Donald Trump. (N.Y. Times/YouTube)

New York City, N.Y. — While presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton traded verbal jabs at the Al Smith Dinner and showed some icy awkwardness, Cardinal Timothy Dolan thought a moment of prayer was the best part of the evening.

The cardinal had asked both politicians to pray with him, and the result showed “the evening at its best,” he recounted Oct. 21.

“After the little prayer, Mr. Trump turned to Secretary Clinton and said, ‘You are one tough and talented woman’,” Cardinal Dolan told the news site TODAY. “He said, ‘This has been a good experience, this whole campaign, as tough as it’s been’.”

“She said to him, ‘Donald, whatever happens, we need to work together afterward’,” the cardinal reported.

The dinner takes its name from former New York Gov. Al Smith, the first Catholic to be nominated for U.S. president. Smith’s great-grandson, Al Smith IV, co-chaired the event. The cardinal sat between the Democratic and Republican candidates.

Cardinal Dolan said the latest event was like “a family dinner where you’re just hoping things go well.”

It comes near the end of a tense and often unpredictable political campaign.

Clinton is at odds with Catholicism on several major issues. She is a strong supporter of legal abortion, taxpayer funding for abortion, and LGBT activism. Catholics’ religious freedoms are under pressure from her political allies. A leaked February 2012 email from her current campaign manager John Podesta appeared to show him wanting to promote a “Catholic Spring”-type revolution within the Church in response to religious freedom controversy over mandatory contraceptive coverage. His email, posted to Wikileaks, appeared to suggest former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, daughter of slain 1968 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, could play a role in aiding a Catholic political revolt within the Church.

For his part, Trump has antagonized many Hispanics and others over his remarks on immigrants and Muslims. While he has claimed a recent conversion to pro-life beliefs and policy, many commentators have questioned his personality and his character, especially following release of a 2005 tape of his lewd banter that appeared to condone and admit sexual assault. Multiple women have also accused him of assault, harassment and misbehavior.

Despite these tensions and controversies, the Al Smith Dinner is traditionally intended to be a lighthearted affair that allows the candidates to roast each other humorously and to mock themselves.

The famously boastful Trump, who spoke first Thursday evening, joked that his modesty is “perhaps my best quality” and even better than his temperament. He joked that his companies’ buildings were built with his own “beautifully formed hands,” while Cardinal Dolan’s buildings were built “with the hands of God, and nobody can compete with God. Is that correct? Nobody. Right?”

He joked that the heads of major media companies were part of Clinton’s campaign staff and he poked fun at the fact that his wife used a speech apparently that appeared to be plagiarized from First Lady Michelle Obama.

Trump’s jokes at Clinton’s expense at times hit hard and drew boos from a crowd that grew unsympathetic.

“I don’t know who they’re angry at Hillary, you or I,” he said in response to an unfavorable response to his joke. “For example, here she is tonight, in public, pretending not to hate Catholics.”

He said the dinner guests could agree on the need to support disadvantaged children.

“We can also agree on the need to stand up to anti-Catholic bias, to defend religious liberty and to create a culture that celebrates life,” he said. “America is in many ways divided like it’s never been before. And the great religious leaders here tonight give us all an example that we can follow.”

Clinton, who went second, joked about her “rigorous nap schedule,” the fees she normally charges for speeches, and the incongruity that a dinner named for the populist Al Smith is held in “this magnificent room, full of plutocrats celebrating his legacy.”

She also joked that Trump would rate the Statue of Liberty based on her looks, that he was following a teleprompter script written by the Russians, that he was not really a billionaire, and that was not getting support from the Republican Party.

“I understand I am not known for my sense of humor,” Clinton said. “That’s why it did take a village to write these jokes.”

“And whoever wins this election, the outcome will be historic. We’ll either have the first female president or the first president who started a Twitter war with Cher,” she said.

Clinton said that opponents of Al Smith’s candidacy targeted him for his Catholic faith and spread rumors he would ban Bible reading and annul Protestant marriages.

“Rhetoric like that makes it harder for us to see each other, to respect each other, to listen to each other. And certainly a lot harder to love our neighbor as ourselves,” she said, adding “you certainly don’t need to be Catholic to be inspired by the humility and heart of the Holy Father, Pope Francis. Or to embrace his message.”

The next day, Cardinal Dolan told TODAY that the two candidates are “kind of awkward together” but said it was not a surprise. He said there was similar “iciness” four years ago when Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and President Obama

“The purpose of the evening is to break some of the ice, and thanks be to God, it works,” the cardinal said.

The dinner is a fundraiser for New York Catholic Charities. This year’s event netted about $6 million.

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Archbishop Chaput: Be like Mary. Punch the devil in the nose

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • October 21, 2016

13th century image of Mary punching devil in the face. (ChurchPop/Public domain via the British Library)

South Bend, IN — Catholics should look to Mary to be part of a religion that fights for truth, rather than assimilating to the popular culture, said Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia.

“If we want to reclaim who we are as a Church, if we want to renew the Catholic imagination, we need to begin, in ourselves and in our local parishes, by unplugging our hearts from the assumptions of a culture that still seems familiar but is no longer really ‘ours,’” Archbishop Chaput said.

“This is why Mary – the young Jewish virgin, the loving mother, and the woman who punches the devil in the nose – was, is, and always will be the great defender of the Church,” he added.

Archbishop Chaput addressed the 2016 Bishops’ Symposium at the University of Notre Dame on Wednesday. He spoke on “Remembering Who We Are and the Story We Belong To.”

He began his talk referencing an illustration, reportedly from the Middle Ages, of the Blessed Virgin Mary punching the devil in the nose. “She doesn’t rebuke him. She doesn’t enter into a dialogue with him. She punches the devil in the nose,” he said.

The illustration is apt, he explained, because, according to the Christian author C.S. Lewis, “Christianity is a ‘fighting religion’ – not in the sense of hatred or violence directed at other persons, but rather in the spiritual struggle against the evil in ourselves and in the world around us, where our weapons are love, justice, courage and self-giving.”

The problem is that many U.S. Catholics have abandoned this “spiritual struggle” and have assimilated too much into the popular culture “that bleaches out strong religious convictions in the name of liberal tolerance and dulls our longings for the supernatural with a river of practical atheism in the form of consumer goods,” he said.

Catholic Politicians have done this by following their own “ambitions and appetites” rather than being loyal to the Church, he noted. Laypersons and members of the clergy have done this through a “silent apostasy” of not standing up for the truth when they need to do so.

“For [Pope] Benedict, laypeople and priests don’t need to publicly renounce their baptism to be apostates. They simply need to be silent when their Catholic faith demands that they speak out,” he said, “to be cowards when Jesus asks them to have courage; to ‘stand away’ from the truth when they need to work for it and fight for it.”

He also warned against a technocratic worldview that sees all solutions to problems as practical and technical solutions.

A Catholic can easily be swayed to believe that prayer should be set aside for practical solutions to problems, he noted. “Technology gets results. Prayer, not so much – or at least not so immediately and obviously,” he explained. “So our imaginations gradually bend toward the horizontal, and away from the vertical.”

Thus, what develops is a culture where “talking about heaven and hell starts to sound a lot like irrelevant voodoo,” he said.

“The Church of our baptism is salvific. The Church where many Americans really worship, the Church we call our popular culture, is therapeutic,” he said.

Archbishop Chaput exhorted his fellow bishops to challenge the faithful to heroic virtue and not to settle for mediocrity – as Pope Francis so challenged Catholics at the 2015 World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.

“To reclaim the Church for the Catholic imagination, we should start by renewing in our people a sense that eternity is real, that together we have a mission the world depends on, and that our lives have consequences that transcend time,” he insisted. While engaging the culture, Catholics must keep a healthy distance from it lest they assimilate into it, he added.

Challenging the faithful may drive some away from the Church, he admitted, but leaders must not be afraid to preach the truth in charity, no matter the consequences.

“Obviously we need to do everything we can to bring tepid Catholics back to active life in the Church,” he said. “But we should never be afraid of a smaller, lighter Church if her members are also more faithful, more zealous, more missionary and more committed to holiness.”

And, he added, if preaching the truth is distasteful to Catholics who are not living out their faith, that “may in fact be more honest for those who leave and healthier for those who stay.”

It is this honesty that is required to preach the truth with love, he insisted, saying “there can be no real charity without honesty.” Examples of a lack of honesty today include when words are misinterpreted or abused – like the term “accompaniment,” he said.

Regarding “accompaniment,” Pope Francis “rightly teaches us the need to meet people where they are, to walk with them patiently, and to befriend them on the road of life,” he said. However, he maintained, others interpret this “accompaniment” wrongly.

“Where the road of life leads does make a difference – especially if it involves accompanying someone over a cliff,” he said.

The present times may be difficult for Christians, the archbishop admitted. “It’s a moment for courage and candor,” he said, “but it’s hardly the first moment of its kind.”

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He was a runner for the Japanese mafia. Now he’s a Catholic priest.

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • October 15, 2016

Fr. Donald Calloway. (Spirit Juice Studios/Vimeo)

Stockbridge, MA — Fr. Donald Calloway could give St. Augustine a run for his money, in terms of dramatic conversion stories.

In a recent Vimeo video produced by Spirit Juice Studios and the Knights of Columbus, Fr. Calloway recalled his radical transformation from atheist, drug-addicted high school dropout to Catholic priest.

The child of a military family, Donald (his family called him Donnie), moved from Virginia to Southern California with his parents at the age of 10.

He was enticed by the lifestyle of Southern California, and by the age of 13, was living solely for pleasure, a pursuit that would eventually lead to a downward spiral landing him in rehab, jail, and with suicidal thoughts.

When his dad announced one day that the family would be moving to Japan, Donnie became “enraged” at the thought of leaving.

Once in Japan, Donnie sought out friends who were into the same things he was.

Those friends soon became his connection to the Japanese mafia organization called the yakuza.

”I was a little Caucasian boy that they could fill up my backpack with all these drugs and money, to run to different casinos on the big island of Honshu, the main island of Japan,” he recalled in the video.

Donnie was wanted by the Japanese government and the United States government, including the U.S. military presence in Japan.

“They literally kicked me out of the country with two military police officers handcuffed at my feet and my hands, and I was released into the custody of my father,” he said.

Donnie was placed into a rehabilitation center, but relapsed immediately after he was released. At that point in his life, happiness was equivalent to feeling good, which meant never coming down from being high. He tried to never be sober.

Occasionally he would wonder about the meaning of life, but it was always in terms of achieving and maintaining the high of those experiences, it wasn’t in a religious context.

Then one night, an almost-21-year-old Donnie was spending a quiet night at home in his room. Without the distraction of music or the noises of a party, his thoughts soon turned dark - to panic and suicide. Looking for a diversion, he grabbed a random book from his parent’s bookshelf, which happened to be about Marian apparitions.

Although his mother was a devout Catholic, he had rejected religion for so long that he had no idea who the Blessed Virgin Mary was.

But he started reading, and he was hooked.

“It talked about a beautiful woman named Mary who was the mother of Jesus, and that she was beautiful, so beautiful that she would make little children cry and fall on their knees because of her femininity and her loveliness. That fascinated me,” he said.

“I think God used the beauty of the Virgin Mary to get me, and it was a brilliant method because it worked. I read the whole book in one night, and that began my radical falling in love with Jesus Christ.”

In his book “No Turning Back: A Witness to Mercy”, Fr. Donald recalls what happened the next morning.

Barely able to spit out his experience to his mom, because of his embarrassment and lack of religious vocabulary, he eventually convinced her that he had had a sincere religious experience. She immediately started calling every priest she could think of that would meet with her son.

But it was just after 6 a.m., and most priests were not awake, or were not up for a very early morning appointment.

“… the priest did not comprehend the urgency of the situation — the need for a meeting at 6:30 a.m., with no prior notice. In his mind, what could be so important that it couldn’t wait a couple of hours? Unwilling to give up so easily, my mother called a second priest but got much the same response. ‘Can we put off the meeting until 8:30 or 9:00 a.m.?’ he asked.”

“As she was dialing a third priest, I interrupted and said, ‘Mom, isn’t there one of those … .’ My voice trailing off much as it did before. I didn’t even know what to call it. We were living at Norfolk Naval Air Station, and I didn’t know if the place I was thinking of was called a church or a chapel. I said, ‘Isn’t there one of those things just inside the main gate?’” he recalled in his book.

“Understanding what I was referring to, she looked me right in the eye and said, ‘Yes, Donnie. Run!’”

Soon after, he was able to meet with a priest, who invited him to come and watch him celebrate Mass. After Mass, the priest gave Donnie a painting of Jesus.

“I was shocked that (Jesus) was not looking at me like he was going to crush me. The image was of him in a gesture of blessing. I began to cry. I realized that I was loved and that I was wanted by God,” he said.

Eventually, Donnie became a priest with the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. He often travels to speak about his remarkable conversion story.

“I often tell people that I’m Exhibit A of Divine Mercy - it works. I’ve done so many bad things and hurt so many people, and yet there’s mercy for someone like me. And if that’s true, and it is, then the whole world, there’s an ocean of mercy waiting for us,” he said.

“Jesus loves you, and he came for you. God is madly in love with you, he’s longing for your friendship, he’s panting for your heart. Give it to him, and trust in him.”

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The trouble with the ‘You go, girl’ culture

by Bishop Robert Barron • October 18, 2016

Two recent films, Deepwater Horizon with Mark Wahlberg and Sully starring Tom Hanks, represent something of a breath of fresh air, for both movies feature men who are intelligent, virtuous, and quietly heroic. If this strikes you as a banal observation, that just means you haven’t been following much of the popular culture for the past twenty years.

One of the distinctive marks of films and television programs the last couple of decades has been the Homer Simpsonization of men. Don’t get me wrong: I’m a big fan of the The Simpsons and laugh at Homer’s antics as much as the next guy. But the father of the Simpson family is stupid, boorish, drunk most of the time, irresponsible, comically incompetent, and childish. In the cartoon world, he is echoed, of course, by Family Guy‘s Peter Griffin, who is similarly buffoonish. In both cases, the wives — Marge in The Simpsons and Lois in Family Guy — have the brains, the competence, and the moral responsibility. And in The Simpsons, Homer is imitated by his son Bart, who is sneaky, stupid, and unmotivated, and Marge by daughter Lisa, who is hyper-smart, uber-competent, and morally alert. In one memorable episode, Lisa is worried that she has inherited her father’s terrible qualities but is relieved to discover, by the show’s end, that the “stupid gene” is communicated only to the males in the Simpson line. In another of my favorite Simpsons scenes, Homer is told, at a moment of moral crisis, to consult that “little voice that tells you right from wrong,” and he responds, “You mean Lisa?”

If you think this male-bashing is restricted to cartoons, think again. Ray Romano’s character in Everyone Loves Raymond, Ed O’Neill’s hopeless father in Married With Children, and Ty Burrell’s hapless goofball in Modern Family — all are variations on the Homer Simpson theme. Add to all this the presentation of fathers as not just inept, but horrific in Game of Thrones, and the absent, indifferent fathers of Stranger Things.

And I wonder whether you’ve noticed a character that can be found in practically every movie made today? I call her the “all conquering female.” Almost without exception, she is underestimated by men and then proves herself more intelligent, cleverer, more courageous, and more skilled than any man. Whether we’re talking about a romantic comedy, an office-drama, or an adventure movie, the all conquering female will almost inevitably show up. And she has to show her worth in a domineering way, that is to say, over and against the men. For her to appear strong, they have to appear weak. For a particularly good case in point, watch the most recent Star Wars film.

Now I perfectly understand the legitimacy of feminist concerns regarding the portrayal of women in the media as consistently demure, retiring, and subservient to men. I grant that, in most of the action/adventure movies that I saw growing up, women would typically twist an ankle or get captured and then require rescuing by the swashbuckling male hero — and I realize how galling this must have been to generations of women. And therefore, a certain correction was undoubtedly in order. But what is problematic now is the Nietzschean quality of the reaction, by which I mean, the insistence that female power has to be asserted over and against males, that there is an either/or, zero-sum conflict between men and women. It is not enough, in a word, to show women as intelligent, savvy, and good; you have to portray men as stupid, witless, and irresponsible. That this savage contrast is having an effect especially on younger men is becoming increasingly apparent.

In the midst of a “you-go-girl” feminist culture, many boys and young men feel adrift, afraid that any expression of their own good qualities will be construed as aggressive or insensitive. If you want concrete proof of this, take a look at the statistics contrasting female and male success at the university level. And you can see the phenomenon in films such as Fight Club and The Intern. In the former, the Brad Pitt character turns to his friend and laments, “we’re thirty year old boys;” and in the latter, Robert De Niro’s classic male type tries to whip into shape a number of twenty-something male colleagues who are rumpled, unsure of themselves, without ambition — and of course under the dominance of an all conquering female.

It might be the case that, in regard to money, power, and honor, a zero-sum dynamic obtains, but it decidedly does not obtain in regard to real virtue. The truly courageous person is not threatened by another person’s courage; the truly temperate man is not intimidated by the temperance of someone else; the truly just person is not put off by the justice of a countryman; and authentic love positively rejoices in the love shown by another. And therefore, it should be altogether possible to hold up the virtue of a woman without denying virtue to a man. In point of fact, if we consult the “all conquering female” characters in films and TV, we see that they often exemplify the very worst of the traditional male qualities: aggression, suspicion, hyper-sensitivity, cruelty, etc. This is what happens when a Nietzschean framework has replaced a classical one.

My point is that it is altogether possible — and eminently desirable — to say “you go boy” with as much vigor as “you go girl.” And both the boys and the girls will be better for it.

Bishop Robert Barron is an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries (wordonfire.org). He is the creator of two award-winning documentary series, Catholicism and Catholicism: The New Evangelization.

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The North American Martyrs

by Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, C.S.J. • October 19, 2016

Some the most breathtaking scenery in the United States is found throughout Upper New York and northward to the St. Lawrence Seaway. Two famous pilgrimage shrines are located in this area and deserve special attention for their historic and religious significance. In this country, October 19th is the feast of the North American Martyrs. First, some history.

New France

In the seventeenth century, French authorities sent a number of expeditions to conduct fur trading in this territory and named it New France. Soon, French Jesuit missionaries followed to minister to their own and to convert the Native Americans to the Catholic faith. Today this direct form of proselytism toward a native people would be considered out of step with ecumenical norms.

The Jesuit missions began their work early in the 1630s. Our story picks up twelve years later with eight French Jesuits who were martyred while working among these Native Americans. Here is their story.

The Huron Indians

By the seventeenth century, the Huron Indians, who belonged to the Iroquois Federation, had developed a fairly high way of life. They spoke in the Wendat language, and their religious beliefs had been fixed for years. Perhaps the Jesuits did not fully appreciate this fact. The Hurons encountered both the Dutch and the French. The Dutch were primarily merchants who established trading posts at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson; the French came south from present-day Quebec to establish fur trading posts.

Jesuit Relations: Instructions to the French Jesuit Missionaries

Much of what we know about the Jesuits’ work among the Hurons was recorded in annual reports, “Jesuit Relations,” written by Fathers Paul LeJeune, S.J. and Paul Ragueneau, S.J. The “Relations” gave the Jesuits a long list of practical instructions to be followed when ministering to the Hurons. Three of the many are:

“You must have sincere affection for the Savages, looking upon them as ransomed by the blood of the Son of God, and as our brethren, with whom we are to pass the rest of our lives.”

“You must so conduct yourself as not to be at all troublesome to even one of these Barbarians.”

“You must bear with their imperfections without saying a word, yes, even without seeming to notice them. Even if it be necessary to criticize anything, it must be done modestly, and with words and signs which evince love and not aversion. In short, you must try to be, and to appear, always cheerful.”

By 1642, Father Isaac Jogues, S.J., leader of the missionary group, planned to work among the Hurons along the south side of the Mohawk River from east to west. It was only natural for the Native Americans to resent the overtures of the missionaries despite the respect given to them. Why would “black-robed” foreigners want to change their way of life and their religious beliefs? Suspicious, they eventually blamed the Jesuits for the outbreak of small pox and other diseases.

At various times, between1642-1649, the Jesuits were brutally tortured – accused as witch doctors. Most of them were bludgeoned to death under the tomahawk.

First Group of Jesuit Missionaries

The first group of French Jesuits answered the call to minister in this region. These included Father Isaac Jogues, and two donnés, René Goupil and John Lalande. Due to deafness, Goupil could not be ordained a Jesuit but was trained as a doctor and surgeon. After years of ministering to the Indians along the St. Lawrence River, Jogues and Goupil were captured. Goupil was the first of the eight to be martyred – he was bludgeoned to death.

For thirteen months, Jogues lingered from brutal torture. Knowing that his index fingers and thumbs were essential to the celebration of Mass, his captives mangled them.

Curiously enough, his escape to France prompted a desire to return to his mission. Accompanied by John de Lalande, the nineteen-year old donné, Jogues returned to the Mohawk Mission in New York. With papal approval, he celebrated Mass even with stubs as fingers. On his return to the region, he resumed his work but was soon tortured again. This time he succumbed. The date was October 18th, 1646. Lalande himself was killed the next day.

Second Group of Jesuit Missionaries

The second group of Jesuits was martyred within the confines of Midland at Martyrs’ Shrine, Sainte Marie. In 1635, Father Anthony Daniel founded the first Huron Boys’ College in Quebec and worked among the Hurons for twelve years until, on July 4th, 1648, still wearing Mass vestments, he was attacked as he ended the celebration of Mass. His martyred body was thrown into the flames of the burning church.

The thirty-three year old, Father Jean de Brébeuf was a gifted linguist and mastered the Huron language. Gentle in manner, massive in body, it is said he had the heart of a giant. Like Brébeuf, Father Gabriel Lalemant was a gifted scholar, professor and college administrator, but unlike Brébeuf, his body was frail. Eventually both were captured, tied to stakes and underwent one of the worst martyrdoms ever recorded in history. The Jesuit Relations describes in detail how grisly were their tortures: “The Indians dismembered their hearts and limbs while they were still alive, and feasted on their flesh and blood” (L. Poulot, “North American Martyrs,” New Catholic Encyclopedia, 507).

Brébeuf suffered for three hours before dying on March 16th, 1649. Lalemant died the next morning. Father Charles Garnier was assigned to the Huron mission at Sainte Marie for thirteen years and then to the mission at Saint Jean. He was beloved by his congregants, but in 1649, was tomahawked to death about thirty miles from Sainte Marie.

Father Noël Chabanel, S.J.

Perhaps the saddest and most poignant story of all is reserved for twenty-eight year old Father Noël Chabanel who was assigned to work with Father Charles Garnier. Though he was a brilliant professor of rhetoric and humanism at home in southern France, he had no ear whatsoever for the Huron language. Plagued by a sense of uselessness, he was convinced that his ministry had failed. Feeling a strong repugnance to the life and habits of the Huron, and fearing it might result in his own withdrawal from the work, he bound himself by vow never to leave the mission. Today, in all likelihood, superiors would frown on this extreme position. Chabanel was martyred on December 8, 1649, by a “renegade” Huron. Yet to the end, he persevered in his missionary activity.

In 1930, Pius XI canonized the North American Martyrs. The Canadian Catholic Church celebrates their feast day on September 26th.

The Shrines at Midland and Auriesville

Because the two shrines are not far from one another, they are popular places to visit at the same time during the summer months or during October when the fall foliage is at its peak period. Martyrs’ Shrine at Midland has a church and museum that feature seventeenth-century maps, songs written by Brébeuf, a history of the shrine, and the stories of the Canadian martyrs. It offers the pilgrim a walking tour to get a sense of how the Jesuits lived, worked, and prayed among the Huron Indians. One can see the simulated rustic village that comprised a chapel, living quarters, and classroom where the Jesuits carried out their apostolates.

The shrine at Auriesville has a similar layout. One of its most popular features is the expansive outdoor Stations of the Cross, a familiar feature of Jesuit retreat houses. There is a large auditorium which seats 6,000 pilgrims.

“The Blood of the Martyrs … the Seed of the Church”

From the earliest days of Christianity, martyrdom for the faith has always been part of the Christian psyche. It was understood that those who openly professed their faith might have to suffer for this pearl of great price. But, it was better to stay alive.

When the missionaries were assigned to work in New France, martyrdom could not be ruled out, just as danger and death cannot be ruled out for policemen or firefighters. Missionaries were expected to die for the sake of Christ, though they did not seek it out. It is a stark reality that remains a constant for missionaries today. But let us not forget that there are so many ways to be martyred, real and metaphorical.

The North American Martyrs were high-minded men, cultured, refined, and well educated. For them, the savage, bloody road of martyrdom was transformed into a way of beauty, a road that remains sacred ground. Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine at Auriesville and Martyrs’ Shrine at Midland are among the most frequently-visited pilgrimage sites in the world – both sacred ground. Those who do visit them are disposed to receive special favors from the saints for whom the shrines are named. It is said that during her lifetime, Dolores Hope, wife of comedian Bob Hope, made a pilgrimage to Auriesville almost every year.

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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Why there’s hope for Catholic liturgical music

by Adelaide Mena (CNA/EWTN News) • October 20, 2016

(Robert Moutal via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Washington D.C. — For decades, there’s been concern in many corners of the Church that Catholic music is in crisis.

The 1992 book “Why Catholics Can’t Sing” outlined a history of modern Catholic Liturgical music and a rapid shift away from traditional chants and hymns in the later part of the 20th Century. Writer Damian Thompson decried “Bad Catholic Music,” such as folk-and-jazz-inspired “worship songs” in a 2015 essay in the British publication the Catholic Herald. Most recently, in a February column for Aleteia, Tommy Tighe raises concerns that some common Catholic hymns are not only musically lacking, but doctrinally questionable.

Much of the critique of contemporary liturgical music lies in the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, and how they were carried out. Critics attest that when interpreting the changes of Vatican II, many dioceses and parishes cut out important parts of the Church’s liturgical heritage, displaced the rich history of chant with other forms of music, and substituted suggested sung prayers with hymns resembling popular performance songs.

While this may certainly be the case in many places, other musical scholars affirm that it is actually the reforms of Vatican II that not only preserve the rich liturgical history the Roman Catholic Church has used for centuries, but allow that tradition to grow.

While they may share many of the same critiques of some popular works and trends in certain kinds of liturgical music, they also say that Mass music is getting better – and that it is getting better because the Church has preserved what is good from centuries past and is also providing avenues for worthwhile contributions from other traditions and the modern day. Rather than detract from the Church’s musical heritage, the Church is now in a place to restore and add to it.

“The abundance of music composed over the centuries and still apt for the liturgy is staggering,” Catholic University director of Sacred Music, Leo Nestor, told CNA. “It is a sign of the Holy Spirit’s continuing inspiration to artists throughout human history.”

In the tradition and with the help of guidelines laid down in the Second Vatican Council, the Church has all it needs for beautiful liturgical music. New music, scholars say, is an important part of this revival of musical traditions the Church has saved.

“The Church admits all worthy art into Her liturgy and the Second Vatican Council makes that clear,” said Fr. Vincent Ferrer Bagan, OP, Choir Director for the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. “New compositions have always come into the Church.”

But in order to see where liturgical music is going, it’s important to understand where it came from.

The roots of sacred music

Music isn’t just an important addition to the liturgy, added as an extension of praise and worship. For much of the Church’s history, music has been an essential part of the liturgy itself.

The inclusion goes back to the very earliest days of the Church – to the Last Supper, Nestor said.

“We know that Christ and his disciples sang a hymn at the Last Supper,” he told CNA. Singing quickly was “mandated” during many parts of early Church celebrations.

Over the centuries, Catholic theology developed to explain why the union of sacred music and text was such an important element of worship that arose from these early traditions. The Roman Catholic Church also continued to intertwine music and prayer into nearly every part of its liturgy.

Within the Roman Catholic Church, there are sung elements that change to reflect both daily prayers and readings and set elements of the liturgy that remains steady throughout the year, Nestor said. The parts that change daily are called the “Proper,” and the elements which remain the same are called “the Ordinary.”

Yet, within recent decades, some of these elements are rarely heard because their use is highly suggested, but not mandatory. While the parts of the Mass Ordinary, such as the Kyrie, Sanctus or Agnus Dei, remain largely constant and cannot be omitted from the Liturgy except under specific circumstances, many parts of the proper have fallen from daily use.

When these elements from the propers are dropped, parishes leave out important music that has special relevance to the prayers of the day. And these propers are “the words the Church wants us to hear sung today,” Nestor said. “The specificity and messages of these texts and their accompanying psalms is mirrored in every other proper text of the liturgy.”

While many parishes neglected the propers after the reforms of Vatican II, many churches are starting to bring them back into popular use. “In our day, the propers, specifically the Entrance and Communion Antiphons, are making a very strong return, not only in the major churches, but in many parishes.”

Evolving Traditions

While the Church proscribes that some parts of the liturgy should be sung when possible, how a congregation places these parts to music can vary by a parish’s cultural and its own liturgical traditions.

“The Church in her rites accommodates the languages and select elements specific to individual cultures, a custom extending back to the early Church,” Nestor said.

The practice of incorporating appropriate cultural elements into the liturgy, also called “inculturation,” is “a two-way street,” he said.

In the process, authentic cultural values and traditions are integrated into Christianity and Christianity impacts culture.

Authentic accommodation of culture and tradition must respect the essential unity of the liturgy, and the balance between culture and liturgy must be done carefully Nestor cautioned. When this respect for both liturgy and culture takes root, however, it “can be a manifestation of the Church’s universality.”

Nestor recalled the example of a friend who was active both at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and at a local African-American parish, St. Augustine’s Church, in Washington D.C. Her advice, he said, encapsulated the Church’s guidance on the integration and respect for various cultural traditions.

“In her maternal wisdom, she said, ‘I want my son to be comfortable at St. Augustine’s, here at the Shrine, at Notre Dame in Paris and at St. Peter’s in Rome,’” Nestor relayed. This attitude, he said, strikes at the heart of the universality of the Church.

Various cultures and peoples are no the only ones with their distinct traditions within the Church; many religious orders also have their own liturgical and musical traditions.

Fr. Bagan directs the choir at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., where student brothers prepare for religious vocations with the Dominican order. He told CNA that in the brothers’ latest musical album seeks to illuminate the unique musical tradition of their religious order.

When the Dominican order was founded and its liturgy formed, there was no standard liturgy for the whole Church, Fr. Bagan explained. When the order organized its own liturgy, the Dominicans began their own independent liturgical tradition that is “slightly different” from the Mass and liturgy prayed in the rest of the Roman Catholic Church.

From this quirk of liturgical history, Dominican chant also evolved into its own distinct tradition. Like the relationship between the Roman rite and the Dominican rite of the liturgy, the Dominican chants for Mass parts and prayers are only “slightly different” from other chants used within the Roman Catholic Church, like Gregorian chant, even though they developed separately.

While the Dominicans now use of the Roman Rite for the ordinary celebration of the Mass and Liturgy of the Hours after the Second Vatican Council, the order still maintains the right to celebrate its own rite and incorporate elements of its own tradition – such as some of its unique chants and propers – into its celebrations.

“The Church, I think, was happy to say, ‘Yes, Dominicans, you have these traditions and they are beautiful. Yes, let’s keep them alive,’” Fr. Bagan said.

The brothers’ projects, like its album, are opportunities for the Dominicans to share both the richness of the tradition as well as the message of the Gospel with others, said Fr. Bagan.

“In the end, we’re really happy to be able to do this because it’s very important to get all of these treasures from the Church’s musical tradition into people’s hands.”

Moving Music Forward

While eight hundred years old, the Dominican musical tradition is still an evolving one. This fact is an element which the student brothers recording tried to bring forward through new compositions on the album, Fr. Bagan said.

Among the older works are new pieces written by brothers, which range in style. Among the new works are more traditional hymn-like settings as well as pieces that include “wilder” harmonies and musical tension and other elements from 20th century music.

In his view, Fr. Bagan says that modern liturgical pieces, such as the ones the brothers sing, “take what’s best in the music in our own time and what can be made fitting for the Temple of God and Divine Worship.”

“Generally of course, music for Church needs to be a bit more stylistically timeless than music for the secular sphere,” he stipulated, “not to say that good things can’t be brought in.”

In addition, he clarified, music intended for the liturgy should remain focused on its purpose and role. “They can be challenging of course, but should never be jarring or distract from the meaning of the divine text or from the purpose of worship for which music is made.”

Chris Mueller, a contemporary Catholic composer, also seeks to incorporate modern musical elements into appropriate liturgical settings. Mueller, who has a background in jazz music, has written numerous liturgical pieces, including his “Missa pro editione tertia,” a setting of the 2011 English translation of the Mass, which has been used by parishes around the world.

In writing his Mass for the 2011 translation, his goal was to create a piece that was singable and was clearly liturgical, and yet was in conversation with he current state of the musical world.

“I was trying to write in a way that was modern and contemporary, but also liturgically appropriate,” Mueller reflected.

While he’s “not trying to write music that sounds like Mozart or Bach, I’m trying to write music that sounds modern,” he also doesn’t want his music to sound just like secular jazz or modern music played in concert halls or jazz clubs.

Finding the “balance” between modern elements and liturgical music, Mueller said, is “an interesting challenge.”

The key in writing the “Missa pro editione tertia” and other liturgical pieces has been using modern elements and tones as “part of my palette of approaches,” he commented. For Mueller, drawing on jazz music for inspiration means using “surprising” turns and harmonies that don’t “really sound like anything else”

It’s important, Mueller said, for Mass music to sound different from other kinds of music we may hear.

“What happens at the Mass when God becomes present at the altar is not something that happens in any part of the rest of your life. The truth of what’s happening at Mass is so different than everything else that the music needs to be reflect that somehow.”

For Mueller, creating these works is ultimately about giving his gifts back to God.

“In Vatican II it says that sacred music is the most valuable treasure of all the artistic treasures the Church has, then if I can be a small part of that, then what better use of my skills could there be?”

But as Church music moves forward in the third millennium, how does all of this translate for the average parish?

For Thomas Stehle, how to choose good liturgical music is not only a theoretical issue but a practical one.

As director of music for St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington D.C, Stehle is in charge of planning liturgies for six English and Latin-language Masses for a diverse community within the Archdiocese.

For him, Stehle told CNA, the challenge – as it would be at any parish – is balancing music that is both of quality and liturgically appropriate as well as easily accessible for prayer.

He said there’s a “legitimate question” not only about a given piece’s quality but also its style. Not every pleasant piece is appropriate for Mass, he cautioned, and this guideline cuts across genres of music.

On the other hand, he noted, many pieces that are not considered “high art” are worthy of being sung at Mass.

“Does it get beyond, ‘oh I love this’ to ‘I can pray with this?’” Steel said. The approach he’s settled on when searching for music is to look for “really legitimate things that come from people’s culture, but do it very carefully and as high-quality as possible, within the style,” he said.

Stehle also added that music directors should consider both the liturgical season and the Church’s daily readings, propers and prayers in order to create the “highest degree” of unity between liturgy, prayer and music.

“It’s important when we’re asking people to embody that prayer in song that it’s coming from very informed choices.”

“(T)hat is the goal; that what you put in people’s mouths is worthy, is appropriate, is liturgically appropriate, is pastorally appropriate and is musically appropriate.”

This article was originally published March 4, 2016.

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What to do about Halloween? Catholic moms – and an exorcist – weigh in

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • October 21, 2016

(Abejorro34 via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Denver, CO — For years, Cecilia Cunningham and her husband took their children trick-or-treating in their then-suburban Philadelphia neighborhood.

“It was the kind of neighborhood outside of Philadelphia where everybody knew each other, and it was a really fun neighborhood thing,” Cunningham told CNA. “People were just out talking while kids were trick or treating, and it had been really nice up until that point.”

That point, Cunningham recalled, was in the early 1990s, when pop culture saw a resurgence of the character “Freddy Krueger,” a skinless serial killer who slashes and kills his victims with a razored glove and first appeared in the 1984 film “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”

Cunningham’s youngest at that point was a year and a half, “and she spent the entire night crying upstairs because of all these kids coming to our door; every other kid was Freddy Krueger.”

That year, Halloween seemed to have taken a sharp turn towards the sinister and the dark, Cunningham said.

And she wasn’t alone in her observations. Several moms from the neighborhood and her weekly rosary group had noticed the same thing. That next fall, as Halloween approached, they decided that instead of trick-or-treating, they would host an All Saints Day party at their parish, complete with a potluck, saint costumes, and tons of candy.

“We knew would be really important (to have candy) for kids who had been trick or treating, and it was an absolute blast, it was really so much better than we expected,” Cunningham said.

As some Catholics see darker elements of some Halloween celebrations, parents like Cunningham often face similar dilemmas – what to do about Halloween?

The History of the holiday

The exact origins of Halloween and its traditions are somewhat muddled.

Some historians claim that Halloween is a “baptized” form of Samhain, an ancient Gaelic festival celebrating the harvest and marking the beginning of winter – the time of year when a significant portion of the population would often die.

Because of the fear of death that came with winter, celebrations of Samhain seemed to have included going door to door asking for treats dressed in costumes, which were thought to disguise the living from life-taking spirits.

The Catholic feast of All Saints Days traces its origins in the Church to the year 609, and it was first celebrated in May. However, in the 9th century, Pope Gregory IV moved the holiday to Nov. 1, so that Oct. 31 would become the celebration of the vigil of the feast – All Hallow’s Eve.

While some historians believe this move was made so the holiday could coincide with, and thus “baptize”, the holiday of Samhain, other historians believe that this may have been because the Germanic church was already celebrating All Saints Day on November 1, and the move had less to do with Samhain than previously thought.

An exorcist’s perspective

Father Vincent Lampert is a Vatican-trained exorcist and a parish priest of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis who travels the country, speaking about his work as an exorcist and what people can do to protect themselves against the demonic.

He said when deciding what to do about Halloween, it’s important for parents to remember the Christian origins of the holiday and to celebrate accordingly, rather than in a way that glorifies evil.

“Ultimately I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the kids putting on a costume, dressing up as a cowboy or Cinderella, and going through the neighborhood and asking for candy; that’s all good clean fun,” Fr. Lampert said.

Even a sheet with some holes cut in it as a ghost is fine, Fr. Lampert said.

The danger lies in costumes that deliberately glorify evil and instill fear in people, or when people pretend to have special powers or dabble in magic and witchcraft, even if they think it’s just for entertainment.

“In the book of Deuteronomy, in chapter 18, it talks about not trying to consult the spirits of the dead, not consulting those who dabble in magic and witchcraft and the like,” he said, “because it’s a violation of a church commandment that people are putting other things ahead of their relationship with God.”

“And that would be the danger of Halloween that somehow God is lost in all of this, the religious connotation is lost and then people end up glorifying evil.”

It’s also important to remember that the devil and evil spirits do not actually have any additional authority on Halloween, Fr. Lampert said, and that it only seems that way.

“It’s because of what people are doing, not because of what the devil is doing. Perhaps by the way they’re celebrating that day, they’re actually inviting more evil into our lives,” he said.

One of the best things parents can do is to use Halloween as a teachable moment, Fr. Lampert said.

“A lot of children are out celebrating Halloween, perhaps evil is being glorified, but we’re not really sitting around and talking about why certain practices are not conducive with our Catholic faith and our Catholic identity. I think using it as a teachable moment would be a great thing to do.”

Trick-or-treating Catholics

Anne Auger, a Catholic mom of three from Helenville, Wisc., said that while she lets her kids dress up in costumes and go trick-or-treating, she’s found that she has to screen the houses as they go, avoiding ones that are decorated with scarier things.

“Last year we had this experience this person came to the door dressed like this demonic wolf with glowing eyes and it was like, what on earth?” she said.

“Sometimes people dress up like witches and I can understand that, but this was a whole new level. It’s just so different from when we were little.”

She also makes sure to emphasize to her children the significance of Halloween as it relates to All Saints Day, Auger said.

“We let them know that we’re having a party because it’s celebrating the saints in heaven, we’re celebrating them, so when they’re trick or treating and doing all of this we tell them it’s because it’s a party for all the saints.”

Kate Lesnefsky, a Catholic mother of seven children ranging from ages 3-16, said she thinks it’s important for Catholics not to shun Halloween completely, since it has very Christian origins.

“I think as Christians we’re so used to being against the world, that sometimes we shoot ourselves in the foot, even though it might have been something that actually came from us,” she said. “But then we lose the history of it, and we think, ‘Oh well this is the devil’s day,’ just because some people say it is.”

Lesnefsky said she lets her kids choose their costumes for trick-or-treating, as long as they’re not too scary or demonic. The next day, her children go to Mass for All Saints Day, and the family uses it as an opportunity to talk about what it means when someone passes away, and what it means to be a saint.

“I have a sister that died when I was 19, so we talk about different people that we know in heaven, or my grandparents, and we’ll talk about different saints,” Lesnefsky said.

And while haunted houses and horror movies are off limits to her children, Lesnefsky said she thinks Halloween is an important time for Catholics to celebrate and be a witness in the culture.

“As Catholics it’s important that we don’t become fundamentalist Christians, I think that can be a detriment to our faith,” she said. “If we are negligent of knowing history, then we don’t even know about things that could be life-giving in our culture.”

This article was originally published Oct. 31, 2015.

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News Items that Caught my Attention Recently

by Msgr. M. Francis Mannion • October 20, 2016

In clearing out my “Viewpoint” shoebox at the end of summer, I found a few items that might be of interest. Here are five.

The Need for Good Preaching – Again!

A recent Pew Poll Center put preaching at the top of the list when Christians are searching for a new parish or congregations.

“This is what people value in a congregation – a good message, a good homily that resonates with them and gives them guidance,” according to Greg Smith, Pew’s associate director for religious research.

More than 4 out of 5 people (83 percent) put preaching at the top of their checklist of what keeps them in a particular congregation.

I have already mentioned in this column the survey conducted by the Diocese of Metuchen, N.J., some time ago, which showed that bad homilies are the principal reason people left the Church.

I have the impression that bishops and priests have not yet taken the full measure of the crisis here.

Norway Leads the Way!

Norway, a nation of 5 million people and one of the world’s most liberal societies, recently passed a law that allows citizens to change gender without a doctor’s permission or intervention. Argentina, Denmark, and Ireland (can you believe it?) already have similar laws, but only Norway and Malta extend the law to cover children. With parental permission, Norwegian children as young as six can now self-assign as male or female, overruling the gender into which they were born.

In my opinion, the phenomenon of changing genders is perhaps the most serious attack on the traditional understanding of the human person.

If I recall correctly, Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco has identified 14 gender variations currently in the works. I wonder where this will lead us in 20 years!

While We’re at It!

The recent birth of a three-parent baby is another voyage into the world of weird genetics. The procedure performed in Mexico, to get around American regulations on such matters, was conducted by creating an embryo that had the genetic contributions of three people.

The procedure was generally condemned by American geneticists and physicians, who predicted all kinds of abuses and unforeseen outcomes.

Will this procedure become legal in the U.S? Of course, it will!

More Liturgical Shenanigans!

The Internet, as we all know, has allowed the broadcast of all kinds of things worldwide, including liturgical abuses. This has only upped the “liturgy wars” and created greater polarization between “conservatives” and “liberals.”

For the entire world to see, the internet recently showed the Archbishop of Palermo, Italy, cycling around inside his cathedral in full vestments, including miter. The event was done to celebrate some sort of sporting event.

This kind of thing is bad enough, but it eventually gets to Rome and causes the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments to become alarmed and to assume a more anxious and negative attitude toward liturgy around the world.

Middle-age Folk Masses

After Vatican II, folk Masses became all the rage. They were usually led by young guitar-playing musicians in their 20s.

Now in the new millennium, folk Masses are led by people in their 50s and 60s — still playing guitars and using the same menus of hymns from past decades. In my opinion, the folk Mass phenomenon needs to fade out or be progressively complemented by the more “traditional” offering of choir/(cantor) and organ and “traditional” Masses settings and hymns.

The intended appeal of folk Masses to the young does not seem to have worked, since the young are scarcely to be found in Church these days.

Msgr. Mannion is pastor emeritus of St. Vincent de Paul parish in Salt Lake City. He holds a Ph.D. in sacramental theology from The Catholic University of America. He was founding president of The Society for Catholic Liturgy in 1995 and the founding editor of the Society’s journal, Antiphon. At the invitation of Cardinal Francis George of Chicago he founded the Mundelein Liturgical Institute in 2000.

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Triple review: ‘Keeping Up with the Joneses,’ ‘The Accountant,’ and ‘Jack Reacher 2’

by Carl Kozlowski • October 21, 2016

There have been countless movies about hit men, as well as umpteen versions of spy comedies throughout the history of Hollywood. In an era when superhero movies and sequels are already glutting multiplexes, the arrival of the films “Keeping Up with the Joneses” and “The Accountant” might seem cause for more despair for moviegoers hoping for original ideas.

Thankfully, both films manage to be entertaining because they take these potentially hackneyed premises and put enough thought, energy and spin on them to make them entertaining.

“Joneses” is the spy comedy, telling the story of a bland suburban couple named Jeff and Karen Gaffney (Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher) whose lives are turned upside down with the arrival of their mysterious new neighbors, Tim and Natalie Jones (Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot).

Jeff and Karen have just packed their kids off to summer camp and initially fantasize about having two weeks of unbridled passion and partying together, but instead they wind up watching “The Good Wife” on Netflix. Jeff is a thoroughly boring human resources manager for a software company that manages flash drives filled with classified information for the CIA, but he has unwittingly drawn the attention of the Joneses because someone is using his work computer to pass vital secrets to an evildoer named Scorpion.

When Karen suspects the Joneses aren’t who they say they are, Jeff initially scoffs at her for having a wild imagination and sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong. But when they discover the Joneses have bugged their house via a gift they gave them, Jeff tries to find out what’s going on and winds up getting caught in the middle of an ever-crazier CIA operation.

Has this plot been done before? Yes, and sometimes in terrific fashion in movies like the 1979 classic “The In-Laws” and the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie action romp “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” Add this one to the list of successful endeavors, as director Greg Mottola (“Superbad”) nails both character-driven comedy and impressive action sequences, with hilarious performances by the lead foursome that play perfectly to their respective strengths.

There’s a refreshing near-absence of profanity in the movie, with one F word, and about five uses of God’s or Jesus’ name in vain in the entire movie. The violence is standard action-comedy level, with fist fights, shootouts, car chases and crashes but no blood, though one villain has a knife thrown into his throat in comic fashion.

The most potentially offensive element are several sexual innuendoes, a couple of which are pretty descriptive though brief. And there’s a scene in which Mrs. Jones talks to Karen while wearing skimpy lingerie next to a department store dressing room, and encourages Karen to buy a lingerie combo that is seen later at a comic moment with Jeff. The lingerie leaves Mrs. Jones quite scantily clad and the scene lasts two or three minutes. Finally, the two wives kiss with false passion for a moment to distract the villains at a key point in the film.

Overall, though, the movie has a positive attitude towards marriage and keeping the spark alive between long time spouses, and the dirty jokes are a minimal part of the total film.

“Joneses” may be mindless entertainment, but in this depressing and contentious election year, we could all use exactly that.

Meanwhile, “The Accountant” offers Ben Affleck as Christian Wolff, who suffers from the high-functioning autistic disorder known as Asperger’s syndrome. Wolff appears to be a mild-mannered tax master with a strip-mall office in suburbia, yet masks a double life doing audits for some of the world’s most dangerous criminals.

Hired as a consultant to find out why $61 million has gone missing from a robotics firm, he manages to break down 15 years of tax paperwork in a single night and winds up wowing a young staff accountant named Dana (Anna Kendrick). But at the same time, a veteran US Treasury agent named Ray King (J.K. Simmons) who’s on the edge of retirement wants to know who Wolff is, because he’s seen him for years in countless photos with some of the world’s worst people.

King blackmails an FBI analyst with a shady past named Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) into investigating Wolff, and the ensuing cat and mouse game grows to involve a nonstop and intriguing series of twists. The actual motivations of Wolff, and why and how he learned to become an ace assassin, form a fascinating tale, and the riveting, multifaceted script by Bill Dubuque also provides plenty of affecting backstory for Dana, Ray and Marybeth as well.

Dubuque’s script hits on multiple levels, working not only as an action movie and a mystery, but also as a deeply human and multilayered tale of four people whose lives come together via their troubled pasts and hopes to become better human beings. It’s also an intriguing look at the world through the eyes of an autistic man and handles Wolff’s character with great sensitivity, drawing out of Affleck what may be his best performance yet.

The movie features several intense hand to hand combat fights and shootings, with pools of blood visible at a couple of crime scenes. The lead character engages in a somewhat disturbing ritual in a couple scenes of the movie where he blasts loud music and flashes strobe lights in his bedroom while whacking his shins with a metal pipe, all in the name of “toughening up.” Finally, there are about 25 F words and another 15 or so lighter obscenities and seven uses of God’s or Jesus’ name in vain. Overall, it shouldn’t be problematic for most adult viewers.

Add it all up, and “The Accountant” offers plenty of bang for the buck, and could very well tally up some Oscar votes.

Finally, Tom Cruise returns as the title character in “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back”, the second installment in yet another series of action films by one of the world’s biggest stars. Cruise has lost his box-office mojo a bit in the last few years, outside of the “Mission: Impossible” series, and while hopes are high for his starring role in a “Mummy” reboot next year, it’s unclear how this sequel to one of his most mediocre movies got made.

Cruise is fine as Reacher, bringing his steely charisma and charming way with one-liners to the fore as the ex-military man who now drifts around the country helping people vigilante-style. This time around, he’s trying to clear the name of a military officer acquaintance named Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), who is on lockdown on false charages after two military investigators she sent to Afghanistan were killed by US bullets.

The dead officers were trying to find out where leftover weapons in the Afghan war effort are disappearing to. Reacher realizes that assassins are on their way to kill Turner, and with those officers dead and an ever-growing conspiracy becoming ever more apparent, Reacher busts Turner out of her cell and the two go on the run to solve the mystery.

One added element that works to a point is that Reacher also has to look out for a 15-year-old girl named Samantha, who believes Jack is the father she never met. He initially follows her to get a sense of her, but then realizes the assassins are also out to kill her. Her flight with Jack and Susan gives the film a needed dose of both humor and heart.

Overall, though, the new “Reacher” is better than its predecessor, but still amounts to nonstop chases and fighting throughout much of the film. There are numerous plot holes in the script, and ultimately this feels average enough to be something an action buff or Cruise fan might enjoy seeing once, but would likely (you guessed it) never go back.

To give it credit, foul language is barely noticeable if present at all in the film, and there’s no sex or nudity. The action fits the PG-13 rating, so the movie overall is fine for teens and adults.

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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SUNDAY • OCTOBER 23, 2016

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Sir 35:12-14, 16-18; NRSVCE)

The Lord is the judge,

and with him there is no partiality.

He will not show partiality to the poor;

but he will listen to the prayer of one who is wronged.

He will not ignore the supplication of the orphan,

or the widow when she pours out her complaint.

The one whose service is pleasing to the Lord will be accepted,

and his prayer will reach to the clouds.

The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds,

and it will not rest until it reaches its goal;

it will not desist until the Most High responds

and does justice for the righteous, and executes judgment.

Indeed, the Lord will not delay.

Second Reading (2 Tm 4:6-8, 16-18; NRSVCE)

As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Gospel Reading (Lk 18:9-14; NRSVCE)

Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

MONDAY • OCTOBER 24, 2016

Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Eph 4:32 – 5:8; NRSVCE)

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

But fornication and impurity of any kind, or greed, must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints. Entirely out of place is obscene, silly, and vulgar talk; but instead, let there be thanksgiving. Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure person, or one who is greedy (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be associated with them. For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light.

Gospel Reading (Lk 13:10-17; NRSVCE)

Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

TUESDAY • OCTOBER 25, 2016

Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Eph 5:21-33; NRSVCE)

Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind — yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, because we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church. Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.

Gospel Reading (Lk 13:18-21; NRSVCE)

Jesus said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

And again he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

WEDNESDAY • OCTOBER 26, 2016

Wednesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Eph 6:1-9; NRSVCE)

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”— this is the first commandment with a promise: “so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ; not only while being watched, and in order to please them, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women, knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord, whether we are slaves or free.

And, masters, do the same to them. Stop threatening them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and with him there is no partiality.

Gospel Reading (Lk 13:22-30; NRSVCE)

Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then in reply he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

THURSDAY • OCTOBER 27, 2016

Thursday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Eph 6:10-20; NRSVCE)

Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

Gospel Reading (Lk 13:31-35; NRSVCE)

Some Pharisees came and said to Jesus, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

FRIDAY • OCTOBER 28, 2016

Feast of Saints Simon and Jude

First Reading (Eph 2:19-22; NRSVCE)

You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

Gospel Reading (Lk 6:12-16; NRSVCE)

Jesus went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

SATURDAY • OCTOBER 29, 2016

Saturday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Phil 1:18b-26; NRSVCE)

As long as Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true; and in that I rejoice.

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance. It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way, but that by my speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.

Gospel Reading (Lk 14:1, 7-11; NRSVCE)

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.

When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”