VOLUME 3, ISSUE 16  •  JUNE 17, 2017

Table of Contents

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VATICAN NEWS

Women play a key role in interfaith dialogue, Pope says

Pope Francis prays for victims of deadly Tehran attacks

Suffering will come, but encounter it with prayer, Francis advises

Combat the world’s elitism with inclusion, Pope encourages youth

Official visit of the Holy Father to the President of the Italian Republic, His Excellency Mr. Sergio Mattarella

Laity, gender ideology shared concerns for Pope and Panama’s bishops

The Pope’s words at the Angelus prayer

Pope Francis demands obedience from priests of Nigerian diocese

For Pope Francis, consolation require an open heart

A new procedure for bishops’ ad limina visits to Rome

Francis: Migrant crises require focus on reality, dialogue, commitment

Holy Father’s Message for the First World Day of the Poor

Could priests be incardinated into ecclesial movements?

Carl Anderson among appointments to Pontifical Academy for Life

Philosopher who supports legal abortion joins Vatican pro-life academy

General Audience: Beloved children, the certainty of hope

In latest meetings, cardinal advisors continue forward with reform

Vatican group meets to discuss situation of migrants around the world

Millennials: Do you have something to say to the bishops? Here’s your chance

In book foreword, Pope Francis calls corruption a ‘cancer’

Pope picks secretary for Dicastery on Integral Human Development

WORLD NEWS

Iraqi Christians endure despite persecution, Chaldean bishop says

Polish bishops see continuity between Amoris laetitia, Familiaris consortio

Want Pope Francis to visit South Sudan? Work for peace, bishops say

Nigerian priest shares harrowing story of being kidnapped

Church destroyed, Christians detained in China’s Henan province

Catholic community offers prayer, supplies for London fire victims

‘Roughly half’ of Iraqi, Syrian Christians have fled since 2011

Cameroon’s bishops ask state action to protect clergy in wake of murder

Stolen relic of St. John Bosco’s brain recovered

U.S. NEWS

Oregon’s advance directive bill is deceptive and deadly, critics warn

Detroit archdiocese challenged to ‘Unleash the Gospel’

Watch as FOCUS consecrates its ministry to Jesus through Mary

Bishops pray for Catholic Congressman shot at baseball practice

U.S. bishops: Next synod must address disillusioned, indifferent youth

Hartford archdiocese works to guide faithful through parish merger

Pope’s U.S. representative reminds bishops to reach those on the margins

U.S. bishops vote to make religious freedom committee permanent

FEATURES

Behold, Catholic beard balm (Yes, it’s a thing)

Lithuania’s first Soviet-era martyr to be beatified

Looking at Luther with fresh eyes

St. Anthony of Padua considered ‘all the world as his home’

Monks of Norcia announce special edition beer to help them rebuild

What can priests practically do to combat the porn epidemic?

Saving ancient Christian cultures, one story at a time

Movie review: ‘It Comes at Night’

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Sunday • June 18, 2017

Monday • June 19, 2017

Tuesday • June 20, 2017

Wednesday • June 21, 2017

Thursday • June 22, 2017

Friday • June 23, 2017

Saturday • June 24, 2017

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Volume 3, Issue 16 • June 17, 2017

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VATICAN NEWS

Women play a key role in interfaith dialogue, Pope says

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 9, 2017

Pope Francis greets pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square during the Wednesday General Audience on Oct. 1, 2014. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — On Friday Pope Francis said women have an essential role to play in interreligious dialogue given their natural ability to build relationships and fraternity, making their involvement necessary in all areas of society.

“Today more than ever it’s necessary that women are present,” the Pope said June 9. “Woman, possessing special characteristics, can offer an important contribution to dialogue with her ability to listen, to welcome and to generously open herself to others.”

Francis spoke to members of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, headed by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who are gathered in Rome for their annual plenary assembly.

During the plenary discussion, members of the council explored the theme of “the Role of women in educating in universal fraternity.”

In his speech, Pope Francis said the topic is “of prime importance for the path of humanity toward peace and fraternity; a path which is not at all obvious and clear, but marked by difficulty and obstacles.”

“Unfortunately today we see how the figure of woman as an educator in universal fraternity is blurred and often unrecognized due to many evils that afflict this world and which, in particular, affect women in their dignity and in their role,” he said, noting that women and children are the most frequent victims of the “blind violence” that takes place in the world today.

However, women have a key role to play, he said, stressing women must collaborate with men in carrying out their mission as an educator “in a serene and effective way.”

The Pope pointed to three main areas of reflection for council members to consider regarding the theme of their discussion: valuing the role of women, educating in fraternity and dialogue.

When it comes to valuing the role of women, Pope Francis said that within a complex society marked by plurality and globalization, “there is need for a greater recognition of the ability of women to educate in universal fraternity.”

If women are able to freely put their gifts at the service of the entire community, “the way in which society understands and is organized is positively transformed, reflecting better the substantial unity of the human family,” he said.

Because of this, a beneficial model for society is one that amplifies the presence of women in social, economic and political life at the local, national and international levels, “as well as in the ecclesial,” he said.

“Women have the right to be actively involved in all areas, and their right must be asserted and protected even by legal means wherever they prove necessary.”

This, Francis said, involves “expanding the spaces of a more incisive feminine presence.”

“There are so many and many women who, in their daily commitments, with dedication and conscience, with courage that is at times heroic, have developed and put their genius to use, their precious traits in the most varied, specific and qualified skills combined with the real experience of being mothers and teachers.”

On the plenary theme of educating in fraternity, the Pope said women as educators “have a special vocation, capable of creating and growing new forms of acceptance and esteem.”

“The feminine figure has always been at the center of familiar education, not exclusively as a mother,” he said, adding that the contribution of women in the field of education is “inestimable.”

Education, he said, “ brings a wealth of implications both for the woman herself, for her way of being, and for her relationships, for the way she deals with human life and life in general.”

Because of this, men and women are called to contribute together in fostering universal brotherhood, which is, in the end, also an education “in the peace and complimentarity of their various and sensitive roles.”

“Women, intimately linked to the mystery of life, can do much to promote the spirit of brotherhood, with their care for the preservation of life and with their conviction that love is the only force that can render the world habitable for all,” he said.

In effect, women are often the only ones to accompany others, particularly the weakest in the family and in society, and victims of conflicts.

“Thanks to their contribution, educating in fraternity – due to their nature of inclusion and generating ties – can overcome the culture of waste,” Francis said.

Educating in fraternity is also an essential part of interreligious dialogue, he said, noting that women are often committed more than men in this area, “and so contribute to a better understanding of the challenges characteristic of a multicultural reality.”

However, “women can also become fully involved in exchanges at the religious level, as well as those at the theological level,” the Pope said, noting that many women “are well prepared to face encounters of interreligious dialogue at the highest levels and not just from the Catholic side.”

“This means that the contribution of women is not limited to ‘feminine’ arguments or to encounters of only women,” he said, adding that dialogue “is a path that man and woman must accomplish together.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis prays for victims of deadly Tehran attacks

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 9, 2017

Pope Francis at The Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion at St. Peter’s Basilica on April 3, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — After twin terrorist attacks killed at least 17 people in Tehran, Iran, earlier this week, Pope Francis condemned the ‘barbaric’ act of violence and offered his prayers for the victims and their families.

“His Holiness Pope Francis sends his heartfelt condolences to all those affected by the barbaric attack in Tehran, and laments this senseless and grave act of violence,” a June 9 letter signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin read.

“In expressing his sorrow for the victims and their families, His Holiness commends the souls of the deceased to the mercy of the Almighty, and he assures the people of Iran of his prayers for peace.”

On Wednesday, June 7, deadly twin attacks on Iran’s parliament building and a monument containing the tomb of the republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, killed at least 17 people and wounded several others.

According to CNN, six attackers simultaneously carried out gun and suicide bomb assaults around 10a.m. local time. The violence began when four of the gunmen, allegedly dressed as women, stormed the gate of the parliament building and opened fire.

The assailants took several hostages before one detonated a suicide bomb. Sporadic gunfire was heard before Iranian security forces eventually killed all four of the attackers.

Also called the Islamic Consultative Assembly or Majlis, Iran’s parliament is the country’s main legislative body. It has a total of 290 members, including women and representatives of minority religions, such as Christians and Jews.

At the same time as the parliament attack, two gunmen went on a shooting spree at the Ayatollah Khomeini mausoleum, which is located roughly 15 miles away and is a popular destination for tourists and pilgrims.

Khomeini, the Iranian Republic’s founder and first supreme leader, led the revolution that overthrew the Shah in 1979, and remained the supreme leader of the republic for the next 10 years.

ISIS militants claimed responsibility for the attack, marking the first time the organization, a Sunni Muslim group fighting Iranian-backed forces in Syria, took responsibility for an attack in Iran, a predominantly Shiite nation.

The last major attack in Iran took place in 2010 when a Sunni extremist group launched a suicide attack against a mosque in Sistan-Baluchistan that killed 39 people.

The Tehran attack was the latest in a string of terrorist attacks claimed by ISIS in recent days. On June 4, seven people were killed and 48 others injured when three men drove a van into a crowd of people on London Bridge before going on a knife spree at local bars and pubs.

A separate car and knife attack took place in Westminster in March that left five people dead, and the Manchester bombing at a concert less than two weeks ago, in which 22 people were killed.

Several attacks have also taken place in Egypt over the past few months, raising concerns surrounding terrorism all over the world.

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VATICAN NEWS

Suffering will come, but encounter it with prayer, Francis advises

CNA/EWTN News • June 9, 2017

Pope Francis says Mass at the chapel of Santa Marta house in the Vatican on Jan. 12, 2016. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — During Mass on Friday, Pope Francis urged Christians to more prayer and hope, especially during the difficult times, instead of finding pleasures in vanity.

He reflected on the suffering endured in the Book of Tobit – blindness, exile, strained marriages – which tempted Tobit and Sarah to desire death; but rather than giving into despair they committed themselves to prayer and hope.

“This is the attitude that saves us in bad times – prayer. Patience – because both of them are patient with their pains. And hope – that God will listen to us and help us tide over these bad moments,” said the Holy Father at the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta June 9.

“In moments of sadness, little or much, in moments of darkness, prayer, patience and hope. Do not forget this.”

Pope Francis recognized that everyone will suffer, and “know how it feels in times of darkness, in moments of pain, in times of difficulty,” and that “after the test” God reveals “beautiful and authentic moments.”

But he warned against an artificial beauty – something he calls “beautiful makeup” or “fireworks.”

Asking what Tobit, Sarah, and Tobiah do with authentic moments of beauty, he said, “They thank God, broadening their hearts with prayers of thanksgiving.”

He challenged his audience to discern what is happening in their souls, especially during times of suffering. To encounter these moments without vanity, he said we must commit “to pray, to have patience and have at least a bit of hope.”

Like Tobit and Sarah, he said we must “wait, in prayer and in hope for the Lord’s salvation.”

The Pope encouraged his audience to read the short book of Tobit over the weekend and to “ask for [the] grace of discerning what happens in the bad times of our lives and how to go on and what happens in the beautiful moments and not be misled by vanity.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Combat the world’s elitism with inclusion, Pope encourages youth

CNA/EWTN News • June 9, 2017

Pope Francis at the General Audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 31, 2017. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis participated in a Google Hangout on Friday with youth from around the world, emphasizing that “everyone has meaning,” even though the world will try to exclude certain people.

Combatting a world which promotes elitism and exclusion, the Pope said June 9, “you have a meaning, everyone … has meaning, you have a meaning, it is in your hands to discover the meaning I have in life, what I am like, with the potentiality that you can … and how to give this meaning to others.”

The hangout, Pope Francis’ third time for the meeting, was organized for the inauguration of a new Vatican office of the Scholas Occurentes, a world-wide initiative in schools to encourage social integration and the culture of encounter through technology, arts, and sports.

Society “is accustomed to exclude, to select, to attack, to shut out people,” he lamented.

However, he said Scholas isn’t like the world, but instead it will “include, shake hands, give a hug, [refrain from] attack, and recognize that no one is a ‘no’ … everyone is a ‘yes,’ a ‘yes’ for them and a ‘yes’ for others. To include, a ‘yes’ to give.”

The video chat included youth from the countries of Italy, Colombia, Haiti, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates. Each group took turns giving a short presentation on the impact of their local “Scholas Ciaudadania” group.

The Pope listened intently to each one before making his comments in Spanish.

“This work that you’re doing, of encountering one another, dialoguing … is an example for us grownups,” he said.

Scholas was started by Pope Francis when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires. In 2013 it was approved as an ecclesiastical institute by the Holy See.

With just a few youth involved at its beginning, the foundation now consists of a worldwide network of over 400,000 state and religious schools, which are organized by Argentine school headmasters Enrique Palmeyro and José María del Corral.

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VATICAN NEWS

Official visit of the Holy Father to the President of the Italian Republic, His Excellency Mr. Sergio Mattarella

The Holy See Press Office • June 10, 2017

Vatican City — At 10:45 this morning, the Holy Father Francis left the Vatican by car, followed by a procession of other representations, destined for the Quirinal Palace for an official visit to the President of the Italian Republic, His Excellency Mr. Sergio Mattarella.

The papal entourage was composed of: Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin; His Excellency Msgr. Angelo Becciu, substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State; Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar general of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome; Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, archbishop of Perugia and president of the Italian Episcopal Conference; Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State; His Excellency Msgr. Georg Gänswein, prefect of the Papal Household; Msgr. Leonardo Sapienza, regent of the Papal Household; His Excellency Msgr. Adriano Bernardini, apostolic nuncio in Italy and Msgr. Stefano Mazzotti, nunciature counsellor.

Upon arrival at the Quirinal Palace, the Holy Father was greeted by the President of the Republic in the Courtyard of Honor. After military honors and the national anthems, the Holy Father and the President of the Republic proceeded to the President’s study, where a private meeting took place.

At the end of the private meeting, in the Hall of Tapestries, the exchange of gifts took place, along with the presentation of the two official delegations, followed by a brief pause in the Chapel of the Annunziata.

The Holy Father and the President of the Republic then entered the Salone dei Corazzieri, where they gave their discourses.

Finally, Pope Francis and President Mattarella proceeded to the Gardens of the Quirinal Palace, where they greeted around two hundred children invited from the areas of Central Italy.

At around 12:30 the Holy Father left the Quirinal Palace and returned to the Vatican.

The following are the Pope’s address to the President and his off-the-cuff greeting to the children gathered in the Gardens of the Quirinal Palace:

Holy Father’s Address

Mr. President,

Thank you for the cordial welcome you have addressed to me on behalf of the entire Italian people. This visit of mine forms part of the framework of relations between the Holy See and Italy, and repays the visit you made to the Vatican on 8 April 2015, shortly after your election to the highest State office.

I look at Italy with hope. A hope that is rooted in grateful remembrance of parents and grandparents, who are also mine, since my roots are in this country. Grateful remembrance of the generations who have preceded us and who, with God’s help, have handed down fundamental values: the dignity of the person, the family, work … And they placed these values also at the center of the republican Constitution, which offered and offers a stable framework of reference for the democratic life of the people. A hope, therefore, based on memory, on grateful remembrance.

However, we live in a time in which Italy and Europe as a whole are called upon to face problems and risks of various types, such as international terrorism, which is fed by fundamentalism; the migratory phenomenon, aggravated by wars and the grave and persistent social and economic imbalances in many areas of the world; and the difficulties of the young generations in gaining access to stable and dignified employment, which contributes to increasing distrust in the future and does not favor the birth of new families and children.

I rejoice, however, to discover that Italy, through the active generosity of her citizens and the effort of her institutions, and appealing to her abundant spiritual resources, is working to transform these challenges into occasions for growth and new opportunities.

Evidence of this is found in, among other things, the welcome given to many refugees who land on her shores, the rescue work guaranteed by her ships in the Mediterranean and the efforts made by teams of volunteers, including ecclesial associations and bodies and the grassroots network of parishes. It is shown also by Italy’s abundant commitments in the international sphere in the promotion of peace, the maintenance of security, and cooperation between States.

I would also like to recall the fortitude inspired by faith with which the populations of earthquake-stricken central Italy have lived this dramatic experience, with many examples of fruitful collaboration between the ecclesial and civil communities.

The way in which the State and the Italian people are facing the migratory crisis, along with the efforts made to assist dutifully the populations afflicted by the earthquake, are expressions of the sentiments and attitudes which find their most genuine source in the Christian faith, which has shaped the character of Italians, and shines the most in dramatic moments.

With regard to the vast and complex migratory phenomenon, it is clear that the full burden cannot be faced by a few nations, ensuring an orderly integration of new arrivals in their own social fabric. For this reason, it is essential and urgent that extensive and incisive international cooperation be developed.

Among the issues that most concern those who care about the common good, and in particular the public authorities, employers and workers’ unions, is that of labor. I have had the opportunity to touch upon this not just theoretically, but in direct contact with the people, workers and unemployed, in my visits in Italy, including the very recent one to Genoa. I reiterate my call to generate and accompany processes that give rise to new and decent work opportunities. Juvenile hardship, pockets of poverty, the difficulties that the young encounter in forming a family and in raising children find a common denominator in the insufficiency of available work, often so precarious or poorly paid that it does not enable serious planning.

It is necessary for there to be an alliance of synergies and initiatives so that financial resources be placed at the service of this aim, with its broad reach and social value, and so that there are not instead distorted and dispersed in investments of a prevalently speculative nature, which indicate the lack of long-term planning, insufficient consideration of the true role of business and, ultimately, weakness and the instinct to flee from the challenges of our time.

Stable employment, along with a policy actively committed to favoring the family, the first and primary place in which the person-in-relations is formed, are the condition for authentic sustainable development and harmonious growth of society. They are two pillars that give support to the common home and which strengthen it to face the future with a spirit that is not resigned or fearful, but creative and confident. The new generations have the right to be able to work towards important goals and the fullness of their destiny, so that, driven by noble ideals, they may find the strength and courage to make in turn the necessary sacrifices to reach the target, to build a future worthy of man, in relationships, in work, in the family and in society.

To this end, all those with responsibilities in the political and administrative field are required to carry out patient and humble work for the common good, seeking to strengthen the bonds between people and institutions, so that this tenacious weave and choral effort may develop true democracy and begin to find a solution to issues that, owing to their complexity, no-one may claim to be able to resolve alone.

The Church in Italy is a vital reality, strongly bonded to the soul of the country and to the feelings of the people. She lives its joys and sorrows, and seeks, in accordance with her possibilities, to alleviate sufferings, strengthen the social bond, and help all to build the common good. In this too the Church is inspired by the teaching of the pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes of Vatican Council II, which urges collaboration between the ecclesial community and the political community inasmuch as they are both at the service of the same human beings. This teaching is consecrated, in the revision of the Concordat of 1984, in the first article of the Agreement, which formulates the commitment of State and Church “to mutual collaboration for the promotion of man and the good of the country.”

This commitment, which recalls the principle of the distinction set out in Article 7 of the Constitution, expresses and has promoted at the same time a peculiar form of secularity, not hostile or conflictual, but friendly and collaborative, even in the rigorous distinction of the competences of the political institutions on the one hand, and religious ones on the other. A secularity that my predecessor Benedict XVI defined as “positive.” And one cannot fail to observe that, thanks to this, the state of relations in the collaboration between Church and State in Italy is excellent, to the advantage of individuals and of the entire national community.

Italy has also the single task and honor of having the seat of the universal governance of the Catholic Church. It is evident that, despite the guarantees offered with the Treaty of 1929, the mission of Peter’s Successor would not have been made possible without the generous willingness and collaboration of the Italian State. A further demonstration of this was given during the recent extraordinary Jubilee, which saw many faithful come to Rome, to the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul, in a spirit of reconciliation and mercy. Despite the insecurity of the times in which we are living, the Jubilee celebrations took place in a tranquil manner, and to great spiritual advantage. The Holy See is fully cognizant of, and truly grateful for the great commitment ensured by Italy.

Mr. President,

I am certain that if Italy is to use all her spiritual and material resources in a spirit of collaboration among her various civil members, she will find the right way towards orderly development and to governing in the most appropriate way the phenomena and problems she faces.

The Holy See, the Catholic Church and her institutions assure, with respect to the distinction of roles and responsibilities, their active collaboration with a view to the common good. In the Catholic Church and in the principles of Christianity, by which her rich and centuries-long history is formed, Italy will always find her best ally for the growth of society, for her harmony, and for her true progress.

God bless and protect Italy!

The Pope’s off-the-cuff greeting to children in the Gardens of the Quirinal Palace

Dear boys and girls, thank you so much for being here. Many thanks for your singing, and also for your courage. Go ahead with courage, always onwards, always upwards! It is an art, always to rise up. It is true that in life there are difficulties – you have suffered greatly with this earthquake – there are falls, but that beautiful song that the Alpinists sing comes to mind: in the art of climbing, success resides not in not falling, but in not staying down. Always upwards, always with that phrase, “rise up,” and onwards! May the Lord bless you.

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

VATICAN NEWS

Laity, gender ideology shared concerns for Pope and Panama’s bishops

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 10, 2017

Panamanian pilgrims attend Pope Francis General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, April 5, 2017. (Lucia Ballester/CNA)

Vatican City — World Youth Day wasn’t the only topic on the agenda for Panama’s bishops during their meeting with Pope Francis this week: they also touched on the role of the laity and the dangers of gender ideology – both key topics for the universal Church.

Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta of Panama, president of the Panama bishops conference, told journalists June 8 that gender ideology “is really being pushed in Panama,” and was a major talking point in their meeting with Pope Francis.

The bishops are concluding a trip to Rome for their ad limina visit, during which they met with several Vatican departments and had a nearly 2-hour discussion with Pope Francis June 8.

Archbishop Ulloa described the meeting as “marvelous, a brotherly visit,” in which they exchanged jokes, asked questions, and voiced concerns freely.

The international WYD encounter set to take place in Panama in 2019 was of course a big topic, as well as the youth in general. However, particular concern was raised about the growing threat gender ideology poses to youth and to families.

“Let’s say something that in other media doesn’t sell so well: gender ideology is demonic,” Archbishop Ulloa said. “It wants to break with the reality of the family and it does so by getting in so softly that we don’t realize it.”

It is never permissible to impose an ideology, he said, stressing the need to respect others, “but having very clear the importance of the family according to the plan of God: man and woman.”

In comments to CNA, Cardinal José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuan of David said Pope Francis “is very worried about Latin America” and listened carefully to what the bishops had to say.

“We listened to his concerns, he listened to our concerns, and from there we had a very fraternal dialogue, very nice, very friendly,” the cardinal said, explaining that the Pope allowed them to share and ask questions, and he responded by giving his own ideas and opinions.

Cardinal Lacunza said that right now in Panama, “there is a real escalation in the media and in the environment to impose, even in the educational field, this theme of gender ideology (on) young children.”

He said there is currently “a fight” between those who are pushing gender ideology as a human right and those who, from the perspectives of faith and reason, “say that it is in no way a human right.”

“The homosexuals have a right to be respected in their dignity and not to be discriminated against,” the cardinal said, emphasizing the need to go from “a society that has to assume as good or acceptable this opinion,” to one that teaches children “that there is a very big path that we are not willing to take, we are not willing to compromise.”

When asked what the Church can do to help, Cardinal Lacunza said it is essential to remember that “the Church” includes the laity – not just clerics.

As bishops, “we can’t do anything,” he said. “We can give orientations, guidelines, but the ones who have to take the baton in their hands are the laity.”

It is the laity who must “fight for adequate legislation in education and other areas,” he said, and, pointing to a recent initiative in the country, said the push to have “an encyclopedia of genitalia” as if it were the most important educational text “is the wrong path.”

There are already lay people working in this area, the cardinal said, adding that “this is what we want: that they are the ones with the baton.”

Youth and laity were also key topics in the meeting with Pope Francis, stemming from discussion on World Youth Day.

Francis has often condemned a clericalist attitude prevalent in Latin America, calling it in a 2016 letter to the Pontifical Commission for Latin America “one of the greatest distortions of the Church” in the region.

So it’s not surprising that the role of the laity came up with the Panamanian bishops. In fact, Archbishop Ulloa said the Pope stressed “the importance of believing in the laity,” because the laity “are also capable of transforming our society.”

This also includes the youth, the archbishop said, explaining that Pope Francis also focused on the “spaces and opportunities” that must be provided to the youth.

“In the Church, in the world, many things will change, and youth will truly fight to have a place in this time of transformation,” he said, noting how Pope Francis said that youth “are not [just] the future,” but rather, “they are the present of the Church, and the present of humanity.”

“What a responsibility it is for them also to be a youth in this time!” Archbishop Ulloa said, adding that the youth are “the fresh air that we have to continue hoping in for a different world.” If this world is possible, he said, “it’s possible thanks to the youth.”

Alvaro de Juana contributed to this piece.

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VATICAN NEWS

The Pope’s words at the Angelus prayer

The Holy See Press Office • June 11, 2017

Vatican City — At midday today, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, the Holy Father Francis appeared at the window of his study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace to pray the Angelus with the faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

The following is the Pope’s introduction to the Marian prayer:

Before the Angelus

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

This Bible readings this Sunday, feast of the Most Holy Trinity, help us to enter into the mystery of God’s identity. The second Letter presents the words of greeting that Saint Paul addresses to the community of Corinth: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor 13:13). This — let’s say —”blessing” of the Apostle is the fruit of his personal experience of God’s love, that love that the Risen Christ revealed to him, which transformed his life and “drove” him to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. From this experience of grace, Paul was able to exhort the Christians with these words: “Mend your ways, heed my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace” (v. 11). The Christian community, despite all its human limitations, can become a reflection of the communion of the Trinity, of its goodness and beauty. However this — as Paul himself attests — passes necessarily through the experience of God’s mercy, of His forgiveness.

It is what happened to the Jews on the journey of the exodus. When the people broke the Covenant, God appeared to Moses in the cloud to renew that pact, proclaiming His Name and its meaning. He says thus: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex 34:6). This Name expresses that God is not far away and closed in Himself, but He is Life that wills to communicate itself, He is openness, He is Love that rescues man from infidelity. God is “merciful,” “compassionate,” and “rich in grace” because He offers Himself to us to fill our limitations and our failings, to forgive our errors, to bring us back to the way of justice and of truth. This revelation of God finds fulfilment in the New Testament, thanks to the work of Christ and His mission of salvation. Jesus manifested to us the face of God, One in essence and Triune in Persons; God is altogether and only Love, in a subsistent relationship that creates, redeems and sanctifies all: Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

And today’s Gospel adds to the scene Nicodemus who, although he occupied an important post in the religious and civil community of the time, never stopped seeking God. He did not think: “I’ve arrived”; he did not cease to seek God; and now he perceived the echo of his voice in Jesus. In the dialogue at night with the Nazarene, Nicodemus finally understands he has already been sought and awaited by God, and has been personally loved by Him. God always seeks us first, waits for us first, loves us first. He is like the flower of the almond tree; so says the Prophet: “It flowers first” (cf. Jer 1:11-12). In fact, that is how Jesus speaks to him: “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). What is this eternal life? It is the unbounded and free love of the Father that Jesus gave on the cross, offering His life for our salvation. And, with the action of the Holy Spirit, this love has radiated a new light on earth and in every human heart that receives it — a light that reveals the dark corners, the hardness that impedes bearing the good fruits of charity and of mercy.

May the Virgin Mary help us to enter ever more, with all our being, in the Trinitarian Communion, to live and witness the love that gives meaning to our existence.

After the Angelus

Dear brothers and sisters,

Yesterday, in La Spezia, Itala Mela was proclaimed Blessed. She grew up in a family far from faith, and in her youth professed herself atheist, but converted following an intense spiritual experience. She was active among Catholic university students, then became a Benedictine Oblate and followed a mystical path centered on the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, which we celebrate in a special way today. May the witness of the new Blessed encourage us, during our days, to turn our thoughts often to God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Who abides in the cell of our heart.

I greet you all, dear Romans and pilgrims: parish groups, families, and associations. In particular, I greet the faithful from Montpellier, Corsica and Malta; and from Italy, the faithful from Padua and Norbello, and young people from Sassuolo.

A special thought goes to the Bolivian community living in Rome and celebrating the Virgen de Copacabana.

And I wish you all a good Sunday. And please, do not forget to pray for me! Have a good lunch, and goodbye.

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis demands obedience from priests of Nigerian diocese

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • June 12, 2017

Pope Francis meets at the Vatican with a delegation from the Diocese of Ahiara on June 8, 2017. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — Pope Francis met on Thursday with a delegation from a Nigerian diocese which for the last four and a half years has refused to recognize the bishop who was appointed as its shepherd.

He demanded that the clerics of the Diocese of Ahiara accept the bishop appointment that has been made, or face suspension and loss of office.

Fr. Peter Okpaleke was appointed Bishop of Ahiara in December 2012 by Benedict XVI. But the Ahiara diocese is dominated by the Mbaise ethnic group. As an outsider from the nearby Diocese of Awka, Fr. Okpaleke was rejected by much of Ahiara’s clergy and laity, who wanted one of their own to be appointed bishop over them.

The Mbaise are among the most Catholic of Nigerian peoples – 77 percent of the diocese’s population of 670,000 are Catholic. Nearby dioceses range between 19 and 70 percent Catholic.

Families in the rural diocese foster priestly and religious vocations, with at least 167 priestly ordinations for the diocese since its establishment in 1987.

With such a wealth of priests, the Ahiara diocese sends many as missionaries to Western countries, and many Mbaise hoped that one of its own would become their bishop.

In May 2013, an Mbaise emigrant to California and a representative of Mbaise USA, George Awuzie, told CNA that “The Mbaise people wanted their own bishop, who knows what’s going on within the community. They’re sending someone from a different community, a different village, that doesn’t know what we do within our area.”

Mbaise opponents of the appointment blocked access to Ahiara’s cathedral. Due to the strong opposition, Bishop Okpaleke was consecrated and installed outside his new diocese, at Seat of Wisdom Seminary in the Archdiocese of Owerri, May 21, 2013.

In July 2013 Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja was appointed apostolic administrator of Ahiara, but proved unable to solve the problem.

In light of the impasse, Pope Francis met with a delegation from Ahiara June 8 and gave them an ultimatum, saying he is “deeply saddened” by the events there and that the Church “is like a widow for having prevented the Bishop from coming to the Diocese.”

“Many times I have thought about the parable of the murderous tenants … that want to grasp the inheritance. In this current situation the Diocese of Ahiara is without the bridegroom, has lost her fertility and cannot bear fruit.”

“Whoever was opposed to Bishop Okpaleke taking possession of the Diocese wants to destroy the Church,” he charged. “This is forbidden; perhaps he does not realize it, but the Church is suffering as well as the People of God within her. The Pope cannot be indifferent.”

He expressed gratitude for the “holy patience” of Bishop Okpaleke, and said he had “listened and reflected much” on the situation, even considering suppressing the Ahiara diocese.

“I feel great sorrow for those priests who are being manipulated even from abroad and from outside the Diocese,” the Pope stated.

“I think that, in this case, we are not dealing with tribalism, but with an attempted taking of the vineyard of the Lord.”

The Bishop of Rome charged that “the Church is a mother and whoever offends her commits a mortal sin, it’s very serious.”

“I ask that every priest or ecclesiastic incardinated in the Diocese of Ahiara, whether he resides there or works elsewhere, even abroad, write a letter addressed to me in which he asks for forgiveness; all must write individually and personally,” Pope Francis said.

In their letters asking for forgiveness, the clergy of Ahiara must “clearly manifest total obedience to the Pope” and “be willing to accept the Bishop whom the Pope sends and has appointed.”

Moreover, the Pope demanded that each cleric’s letter be sent within 30 days – by July 9.

“Whoever does not do this will be ipso facto suspended a divinis and will lose his current office.”

Acknowledging that this measure “seems very hard,” Pope Francis said he must do this “because the people of God are scandalized.”

“Jesus reminds us that whoever causes scandal must suffer the consequences,” he told the delegation. “Maybe someone has been manipulated without having full awareness of the wound inflicted upon the ecclesial communion.”

At Bishop Okpaleke Mass of episcopal consecration, Bishop Lucius Ugorji of Umuahia had said that “acceptance of the papal appointment is a respect for the Pope, while the outright rejection and inflammatory statements and protests are spiteful and disrespectful of papal authority,” according to The Sun of Lagos.

Ahiara’s first ordinary, Bishop Victor Chikwe, served from 1987 until his death in Sept., 2010. The diocese was vacant for 26 months before Bishop Okpaleke was appointed.

Awka, whence Bishop Okpaleke comes, is located in the state of Anambra. Ahiara, meanwhile, is located to the south in Imo state. The Mbaise assert that the Nigerian hierarchy favors Anambra.

The Mbaise, who are proud of their identity and strong Catholicism, resent what they call the “Anambranization” of the Church in southeast Nigeria, believing there to be corruption within the Church in Nigeria and a “recolonization” of the Mbaise.

At the conclusion of the audience on Thursday, Pope Francis expressed his gratitude for the presence of the Mbaise who came to Rome, as well as for the patience of Cardinal Onaiyekan, and for Bishop Okpaleke, “whose patience and humility I admire.”

Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, is planning to have the Ahiara diocese and its bishop make a pilgrimage to Rome to meet with Pope Francis “at the conclusion of this sequence of events,” the Vatican announced June 11.

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VATICAN NEWS

For Pope Francis, consolation require an open heart

CNA/EWTN News • June 12, 2017

Pope Francis says Mass at the chapel of Santa Marta house in the Vatican on Sept. 1, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — Consolation is never self-reliant, Pope Francis said during Mass on Monday, noting it is only possible to receive the Lord’s encouragement through another.

“No one can console himself, no one – and whoever tries to do it ends up looking into the mirror – staring into the mirror and trying to ‘make oneself up,’” said the Pope during his June 12 Mass at the chapel of the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta.

“The experience of consolation, which is a spiritual experience, always needs ‘someone else’ in order to be full.”

He reflected on the day’s readings, in which Saint Paul described the need for the Lord’s consolation in his second letter to the Corinthians, and the Beatitudes in the Gospel of Matthew.

He said the “doctors of the law” will not have true consolation because they are the ones who console themselves. “One ‘consoles’ with these closed things that do not let one grow,” he said, “and the air that one breathes is that narcissistic air of self-reference.”

This narcissism never allows for growth or a view of the entire picture, he explained.

Pope Francis said consolation is always from the Lord, and is a two-fold process: receiving a gift and serving others. He said “consolation is a state of transition from the gift received to the service given.”

Consolation must begin with a recognition of one’s own need, he said, explaining that “only then does the Lord come console us, and give us the mission to console others. It is not easy to have one’s heart open to receive the gift and to serve.”

He said an open heart is a happy one because it relies on the Lord, and he reflected on the receptive spirit described in Beatitudes.

“The poor: the heart is opened with an attitude of poverty, of poverty of spirit; those who know how to cry, the meek ones, the meekness of heart; those hungry for justice who fight for justice; those who are merciful, who have mercy on others; the pure of heart; peace-makers and those who are persecuted for justice, for love of righteousness.”

“Thus is the heart opened and [then] the Lord comes with the gift of consolation and the mission of consoling others,” Francis stated.

The Pope contrasted it to the men with closed hearts, who find themselves sufficient: “those who do not need to cry because they feel they are in the right.” He said these men do not understand meekness, mercy, or forgiveness, and in turn they cannot serve others in the same way.

He asked his audience to reflect on how open their hearts are to be able to ask for consolation and then to pass it on to their neighbors.

Ending with words of encouragement, he said the Lord always aims to console us and “asks us to open the doors of our hearts even only just a little bit.”

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VATICAN NEWS

A new procedure for bishops’ ad limina visits to Rome

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • June 12, 2017

The bishops of Albania meet with Pope Francis for their ad limina visit at the Vatican on May 30, 2017. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — In order to foster collegiality, Pope Francis has added to the usual schedule of bishops’ ad limina visit to Rome: one additional meeting with the heads of the Vatican dicasteries.

The ad limina apostolorum – “to the tomb of the apostles” – visits are the meetings that groups of bishops from each ecclesiastical region in the world have with the Pope every five years. In such occasions they also visit and celebrate Mass at the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul.

Before meeting the Pope, the bishops from a particular country or region visit all the dicasteries Vatican dicasteries and can schedule personal meetings with the head of each dicastery to discuss particular matters.

During such visits, bishops’ conferences prepare exhaustive reports for each dicastery, describing the status of the Church in the country or region.

Before Pope Francis, the meeting of the bishops with the Pope included an exchange of speeches: the president of the bishops’ conference delivered a speech to describe the state of the region, and the Pope delivered a speech in his turn which provided pastoral recommendations and priorities.

After the exchange of speeches, the Pope held a short conversation with each bishop individually.

But since the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis chose the format of an open conversation with the whole group of bishops. All of them are allowed to ask questions, and the Pope responds off the cuff.

The Pope also prepared a formal speech, a copy of which was provided to each bishop.

With time, even the delivery of the papal speech fell into disuse. Now, no official papal text is prepared and therefore the press only knows of the matters discussed during the visit from the bishops who attended it.

Pope Francis has made an additional, recent change: the bishops have now a meeting presided over by Pope Francis with many heads of the Vatican dicasteries.

Not all the heads of Vatican dicasteries take part in the meeting, but only those whose dicasteries are in some way related to pastoral care or some of the main issues at stake in the ecclesiastical region visiting Rome.

Bishop Thomas Dowd, auxiliary bishop of Montreal, told CNA that “for the first time with our group, the Pope met twice with the bishops: before in a meeting with several heads of the Vatican dicasteries, and after for the usual exchange of opinions, which lasted about two hours.”

Bishop Dowd described it as a working meeting which included representatives from the Secretariat of State, the Congregation for Clergy, the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, and the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.

Thanks to provided translation, the Pope, prefect, and bishops of Quebec had “an open exchange of opinions about the Church in the region and its needs. We got advice from the Curia. We gave our input to them, the Curia officials gave their input to us.”

Bishop Dowd added that “the Pope listened to us, and we had coffee together at the end.”

The auxiliary bishop of Montreal recounted: “The Pope basically said: ‘We want to hear from you about what is your situation. Tell us your experience.’ The various dicasteries had prepared remarks based on the reports that we sent in advance to the ad limina visit.”

He added that, as the discussion went on, “some of the dicasteries read the texts they prepared, but most of them did not read the texts, but reacted to the experiences raised during the open discussion.”

During the meeting, Pope Francis listened attentively to all the discussions. He spoke at the end, to summarize the discussions and provide an overall reaction.

The bishops of Peru followed next in May, with the same new extra meeting.

Archbishop José Antonio Eguren Anselmi of Piura told CNA that the double meeting, first with the heads of the dicasteries and then only with the bishops “gives great attention to the local Churches, since we have the possibility to spend at least four hours with the Pope.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Francis: Migrant crises require focus on reality, dialogue, commitment

CNA/EWTN News • June 13, 2017

Central American migrants in Mexico. (Peter Haden via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Vatican City — Pope Francis sent a letter last week to the Latin American Parliament as they discuss migration in the region, encouraging governments to protect all who reside in their territory regardless of their origin.

“As members of a large family, we must work to place the ‘person’ at the center; this is not a mere number or an abstract entity but a brother or sister who needs our help and a friendly hand,” the Pope wrote in his June 7 letter to the Latin American Parliament, which is holding its 33rd General Assembly.

The assembly of representatives from 23 Latin American and Caribbean countries is meeting to discuss migration in the region and international responses.

Francis offered his congratulations to the parliament “on this initiative that aims to help and make life more dignified for those who, having a homeland, regrettably do not find in their countries adequate conditions of security and subsistence” and are forced to flee.

The Pope’s message highlighted three themes: reality, dialogue, and commitment. He explained how each of these can be oriented toward developing effective humanitarian aid for migrant peoples.

Speaking about his first chosen word, “reality,” Francis emphasized knowing the causes of migration.

“This requires not only analysis of this situation from ‘the study desk,’” he said, “but also in contact with people, that is to say with real faces.” He warned against an “aseptic analysis” which “produces sterile measurements,” instead encouraging the parliament to pursue “a relationship with a person in the flesh helps us to perceive the deep scars that he carries with him, caused by the reason, or unreason, of migration.”

Francis expressed hope that the assembly would produce “valid responses for migrants and host countries,” as well as security which is based in reality.

“Dialogue is indispensable in this work,” Francis explained. “One cannot work in isolation; we all need each other.”

He condemned the “throwaway culture,” calling instead for member nations to work for approaches which welcome migrants fairly and efficiently. He emphasized the need for unity in dialogue, saying that attaining “a consensus between the parties is a ‘craft;’ a meticulous, almost imperceptible task but essential for shaping agreements and regulations.”

“Dialogue is essential to foster solidarity with those who have been deprived of their fundamental rights,” Francis said.

Speaking on commitment, the Pope cautioned against spending too much energy “on the detailed analysis and the debate of ideas,” saying instead that a solution must be sought.

“Latin America and the Caribbean have an important international role and the opportunity to become key players in this complex situation,” he said.

He emphasized the need for mid-term as well as long-term planning so that aid can extend beyond emergency responses. This, he said, will allow for migrants’ integration into their new nations and, assistance in the lands they fled.

Francis called special attention to the needs of children in this struggle, recalling their “right to be children,” and once more spoke out against human trafficking, which he described as a “scourge.”

He acknowledged the enormity of the work, saying that “we need men and women of good will who, with their concrete commitment, can respond to this ‘cry.’”

“I urge national governments to assume their responsibilities to all those residing in their territory,” the Pope said, “and I reiterate the commitment of the Catholic Church, through the presence of the local and regional Churches, to responding to this wound.”

In closing, Pope Francis encouraged the assembly in their work on this crisis, and prayed for the intercession of the Holy Virgin, recalling the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt. He asked for the prayers of the assembly, and asked God to bless them.

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VATICAN NEWS

Holy Father’s Message for the First World Day of the Poor

The Holy See Press Office • June 13, 2017

Vatican City — The following is the full text of the Message of the Holy Father Francis for the First World Day of the Poor, to be held on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time – this year on 19 November 2017 – on the theme, Let us love, not with words but with deeds.

Message of the Holy Father

1. “Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in deed and in truth” (1 Jn 3:18). These words of the Apostle John voice an imperative that no Christian may disregard. The seriousness with which the “beloved disciple” hands down Jesus’ command to our own day is made even clearer by the contrast between the empty words so frequently on our lips and the concrete deeds against which we are called to measure ourselves. Love has no alibi. Whenever we set out to love as Jesus loved, we have to take the Lord as our example; especially when it comes to loving the poor. The Son of God’s way of loving is well-known, and John spells it out clearly. It stands on two pillars: God loved us first (cf. 1 Jn 4:10.19), and he loved us by giving completely of himself, even to laying down his life (cf. 1 Jn 3:16).

Such love cannot go unanswered. Even though offered unconditionally, asking nothing in return, it so sets hearts on fire that all who experience it are led to love back, despite their limitations and sins. Yet this can only happen if we welcome God’s grace, his merciful charity, as fully as possible into our hearts, so that our will and even our emotions are drawn to love both God and neighbor. In this way, the mercy that wells up – as it were – from the heart of the Trinity can shape our lives and bring forth compassion and works of mercy for the benefit of our brothers and sisters in need.

2. “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him” (Ps 34:6). The Church has always understood the importance of this cry. We possess an outstanding testimony to this in the very first pages of the Acts of the Apostles, where Peter asks that seven men, “full of the Spirit and of wisdom” (6:3), be chosen for the ministry of caring for the poor. This is certainly one of the first signs of the entrance of the Christian community upon the world’s stage: the service of the poor. The earliest community realized that being a disciple of Jesus meant demonstrating fraternity and solidarity, in obedience to the Master’s proclamation that the poor are blessed and heirs to the Kingdom of heaven (cf. Mt 5:3).

“They sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:45). In these words, we see clearly expressed the lively concern of the first Christians. The evangelist Luke, who more than any other speaks of mercy, does not exaggerate when he describes the practice of sharing in the early community. On the contrary, his words are addressed to believers in every generation, and thus also to us, in order to sustain our own witness and to encourage our care for those most in need. The same message is conveyed with similar conviction by the Apostle James. In his Letter, he spares no words: “Listen, my beloved brethren. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you, and drag you into court? … What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body; what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has not works, is dead’ (2:5-6.14-17).

3. Yet there have been times when Christians have not fully heeded this appeal, and have assumed a worldly way of thinking. Yet the Holy Spirit has not failed to call them to keep their gaze fixed on what is essential. He has raised up men and women who, in a variety of ways, have devoted their lives to the service of the poor. Over these two thousand years, how many pages of history have been written by Christians who, in utter simplicity and humility, and with generous and creative charity, have served their poorest brothers and sisters!

The most outstanding example is that of Francis of Assisi, followed by many other holy men and women over the centuries. He was not satisfied to embrace lepers and give them alms, but chose to go to Gubbio to stay with them. He saw this meeting as the turning point of his conversion: “When I was in my sins, it seemed a thing too bitter to look on lepers, and the Lord himself led me among them and I showed them mercy. And when I left them, what had seemed bitter to me was changed into sweetness of mind and body” (Text 1-3: FF 110). This testimony shows the transformative power of charity and the Christian way of life.

We may think of the poor simply as the beneficiaries of our occasional volunteer work, or of impromptu acts of generosity that appease our conscience. However good and useful such acts may be for making us sensitive to people’s needs and the injustices that are often their cause, they ought to lead to a true encounter with the poor and a sharing that becomes a way of life. Our prayer and our journey of discipleship and conversion find the confirmation of their evangelic authenticity in precisely such charity and sharing. This way of life gives rise to joy and peace of soul, because we touch with our own hands the flesh of Christ. If we truly wish to encounter Christ, we have to touch his body in the suffering bodies of the poor, as a response to the sacramental communion bestowed in the Eucharist. The Body of Christ, broken in the sacred liturgy, can be seen, through charity and sharing, in the faces and persons of the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters. Saint John Chrysostom’s admonition remains ever timely: “If you want to honor the body of Christ, do not scorn it when it is naked; do not honor the Eucharistic Christ with silk vestments, and then, leaving the church, neglect the other Christ suffering from cold and nakedness” (Hom. in Matthaeum, 50.3: PG 58).

We are called, then, to draw near to the poor, to encounter them, to meet their gaze, to embrace them and to let them feel the warmth of love that breaks through their solitude. Their outstretched hand is also an invitation to step out of our certainties and comforts, and to acknowledge the value of poverty in itself.

4. Let us never forget that, for Christ’s disciples, poverty is above all a call to follow Jesus in his own poverty. It means walking behind him and beside him, a journey that leads to the beatitude of the Kingdom of heaven (cf. Mt 5:3; Lk 6:20). Poverty means having a humble heart that accepts our creaturely limitations and sinfulness and thus enables us to overcome the temptation to feel omnipotent and immortal. Poverty is an interior attitude that avoids looking upon money, career and luxury as our goal in life and the condition for our happiness. Poverty instead creates the conditions for freely shouldering our personal and social responsibilities, despite our limitations, with trust in God’s closeness and the support of his grace. Poverty, understood in this way, is the yardstick that allows us to judge how best to use material goods and to build relationships that are neither selfish nor possessive (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos. 25-45).

Let us, then, take as our example Saint Francis and his witness of authentic poverty. Precisely because he kept his gaze fixed on Christ, Francis was able to see and serve him in the poor. If we want to help change history and promote real development, we need to hear the cry of the poor and commit ourselves to ending their marginalization. At the same time, I ask the poor in our cities and our communities not to lose the sense of evangelical poverty that is part of their daily life.

5. We know how hard it is for our contemporary world to see poverty clearly for what it is. Yet in myriad ways poverty challenges us daily, in faces marked by suffering, marginalization, oppression, violence, torture and imprisonment, war, deprivation of freedom and dignity, ignorance and illiteracy, medical emergencies and shortage of work, trafficking and slavery, exile, extreme poverty and forced migration. Poverty has the face of women, men and children exploited by base interests, crushed by the machinations of power and money. What a bitter and endless list we would have to compile were we to add the poverty born of social injustice, moral degeneration, the greed of a chosen few, and generalized indifference!

Tragically, in our own time, even as ostentatious wealth accumulates in the hands of the privileged few, often in connection with illegal activities and the appalling exploitation of human dignity, there is a scandalous growth of poverty in broad sectors of society throughout our world. Faced with this scenario, we cannot remain passive, much less resigned. There is a poverty that stifles the spirit of initiative of so many young people by keeping them from finding work. There is a poverty that dulls the sense of personal responsibility and leaves others to do the work while we go looking for favors. There is a poverty that poisons the wells of participation and allows little room for professionalism; in this way it demeans the merit of those who do work and are productive. To all these forms of poverty we must respond with a new vision of life and society.

All the poor – as Blessed Paul VI loved to say – belong to the Church by “evangelical right” (Address at the Opening of the Second Session of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, 29 September 1963), and require of us a fundamental option on their behalf. Blessed, therefore, are the open hands that embrace the poor and help them: they are hands that bring hope. Blessed are the hands that reach beyond every barrier of culture, religion and nationality, and pour the balm of consolation over the wounds of humanity. Blessed are the open hands that ask nothing in exchange, with no “ifs” or “buts” or “maybes”: they are hands that call down God’s blessing upon their brothers and sisters.

6. At the conclusion of the Jubilee of Mercy, I wanted to offer the Church a World Day of the Poor, so that throughout the world Christian communities can become an ever greater sign of Christ’s charity for the least and those most in need. To the World Days instituted by my Predecessors, which are already a tradition in the life of our communities, I wish to add this one, which adds to them an exquisitely evangelical fullness, that is, Jesus’ preferential love for the poor.

I invite the whole Church, and men and women of good will everywhere, to turn their gaze on this day to all those who stretch out their hands and plead for our help and solidarity. They are our brothers and sisters, created and loved by the one Heavenly Father. This Day is meant, above all, to encourage believers to react against a culture of discard and waste, and to embrace the culture of encounter. At the same time, everyone, independent of religious affiliation, is invited to openness and sharing with the poor through concrete signs of solidarity and fraternity. God created the heavens and the earth for all; yet sadly some have erected barriers, walls and fences, betraying the original gift meant for all humanity, with none excluded.

7. It is my wish that, in the week preceding the World Day of the Poor, which falls this year on 19 November, the Thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Christian communities will make every effort to create moments of encounter and friendship, solidarity and concrete assistance. They can invite the poor and volunteers to take part together in the Eucharist on this Sunday, in such a way that there be an even more authentic celebration of the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, on the following Sunday. The kingship of Christ is most evident on Golgotha, when the Innocent One, nailed to the cross, poor, naked and stripped of everything, incarnates and reveals the fullness of God’s love. Jesus’ complete abandonment to the Father expresses his utter poverty and reveals the power of the Love that awakens him to new life on the day of the Resurrection.

This Sunday, if there are poor people where we live who seek protection and assistance, let us draw close to them: it will be a favorable moment to encounter the God we seek. Following the teaching of Scripture (cf. Gen 18:3-5; Heb 13:2), let us welcome them as honored guests at our table; they can be teachers who help us live the faith more consistently. With their trust and readiness to receive help, they show us in a quiet and often joyful way, how essential it is to live simply and to abandon ourselves to God’s providence.

8. At the heart of all the many concrete initiatives carried out on this day should always be prayer. Let us not forget that the Our Father is the prayer of the poor. Our asking for bread expresses our entrustment to God for our basic needs in life. Everything that Jesus taught us in this prayer expresses and brings together the cry of all who suffer from life’s uncertainties and the lack of what they need. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he answered in the words with which the poor speak to our one Father, in whom all acknowledge themselves as brothers and sisters. The Our Father is a prayer said in the plural: the bread for which we ask is “ours,” and that entails sharing, participation and joint responsibility. In this prayer, all of us recognize our need to overcome every form of selfishness, in order to enter into the joy of mutual acceptance.

9. I ask my brother Bishops, and all priests and deacons who by their vocation have the mission of supporting the poor, together with all consecrated persons and all associations, movements and volunteers everywhere, to help make this World Day of the Poor a tradition that concretely contributes to evangelization in today’s world.

This new World Day, therefore, should become a powerful appeal to our consciences as believers, allowing us to grow in the conviction that sharing with the poor enables us to understand the deepest truth of the Gospel. The poor are not a problem: they are a resource from which to draw as we strive to accept and practice in our lives the essence of the Gospel.

From the Vatican, 13 June 2017, Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua

FRANCIS

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

VATICAN NEWS

Could priests be incardinated into ecclesial movements?

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • June 13, 2017

A Mass of diaconal ordination said in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 1, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — The last meeting of the head of dicasteries of the Roman Curia took place last May 29. Among other issues, the meeting discussed the possibility of priests being incardinated directly into ecclesial movements rather than into a diocese.

Pope Francis made the issue a central topic of his regular meeting with the head of dicasteries, though these kind of meetings usually deal with topics related to the government and the organization of the Roman Curia.

Via “incardination,” a member of the clergy is placed under the jurisdiction of a bishop or, in the case of a religious, an ecclesiastical superior.

Aside from dioceses and religious institutes, only personal prelatures and ordinariates can incardinate priests.

Some ecclesial movements have been asking for some time to have priests directly incardinated.

The request of the movements is based on the fact that there are priests whose vocation is born and nurtured within a specific ecclesial movement.

According to their argument, these priests should not be bound to a diocese, and should be free to live their vocation within the movement, moving from place to place according to the needs or the requests of their particular movement.

Under the current situation, bishops and the priests of movements who are under their jurisdiction have had to find a balance between the movement’s charism and the needs of the diocese.

During the May 29 meeting, Pope Francis largely listened, and did not express an opinion. However, his thought may be deduced from his recent words in other contexts.

At a meeting on April 27 with Catholic Action – a movement founded in Italy 150 years ago – the Pope

said the movement’s charism is “profoundly incarnate in the here and now of every diocesan Church,” and that it “takes on true vigor by responding to, and making its own, the pastoral outreach of each diocesan Church.”

“Nor can you be like those groups that are so universal that they are not based anywhere, answer to no one, and are always on the lookout for what they suits them wherever they go,” he told them.

Pope Francis reiterated the importance of dioceses a month later, during his May 27 visit to Genoa.

Speaking with the clergy and religious of the city, Pope Francis underscored the importance for charisms of staying attached to the concrete realities of a diocese or project.

While a congregation might be “universal” in the sense that it has houses throughout the world, the “concreteness” of involvement in the diocese helps give the order “roots,” allowing it to remain and also to grow as they see different needs come up, he reflected.

The incardination of priests to movements would have a significant impact on such groups as the Focolare Movement, Communion and Liberation, Cançao Nova, or Shalom.

Some have speculated that the Neocatecumenal Way might also benefit from the possibility of incardinating its own priests.

The incardination problem in fact leaves open several questions: if a priest is directly incardinated in the movement, will he refer to a bishop or to the leader of the movement? And what happens if the leader is a lay person?

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said at a book presentation June 1 that the incardination issue “is not about building parallel Churches. It is rather a matter of working together. We are called to a further reflection, being very careful not to lose the Church’s sacramental structure.”

Cardinal Müller hinted at the possibility of a communion of movements. The need, however, is to make it evident that priests are of the Church and not of the movements. Otherwise, the same movements risk to remain closed to the universal Church.

Referring to the possibility of a community of movements, Cardinal Müller talked about charismatic movements, which “can enrich the Church with their spirituality, with the tradition of the territories they live in, with choosing a certain spirituality. This spirituality must anyway favor the Church. It must not be stuck in the temptation to stay within a group, to build a too much enclosed and selective identity. Masses are not private. They must be open to all Catholics.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Carl Anderson among appointments to Pontifical Academy for Life

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • June 13, 2017

Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, meets with Pope Francis on Feb. 16, 2017. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — On Tuesday the Vatican announced that Carl A. Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, has been appointed by Pope Francis as a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

“I am honored to have been appointed to the Pontifical Academy for Life by Pope Francis. The issue of the sanctity of life has been a priority for the Knights of Columbus, and for me personally,” Anderson said in a statement June 13.

Anderson said that in their work they have taken Pope Francis’ words in Laudato si’ and Evangelii gaudium as a guide, that “among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to care with particular love and concern are unborn children, the most defenseless and innocent among us.”

“I look forward to working with Pope Francis and the Pontifical Academy for Life in supporting an authentic human ecology and building a culture of life based on a proper understanding of the right to life and the dignity of each person,” he concluded.

The Statues of the Pontifical Academy for Life, revised every five years, were last revised Nov. 5, 2016, leading to the Pope’s usual review and confirmation of current members, as well as new appointments.

As head of the Knights of Columbus, Anderson is the chief executive officer and chairman of the board. He was elected supreme knight in 2000, and earlier served as supreme secretary and state deputy of the District of Columbia.

He was first appointed to the Pontifical Academy for Life in 1998 by St. John Paul II.

The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal order, was founded in New Haven, Conn., in 1882 by Venerable Michael J. McGivney, a parish priest. It has 1.8 million members worldwide who perform volunteer service and advance the order’s key principles of charity, unity, fraternity and patriotism.

The Pontifical Academy for Life is a team of scientists and ethicists representing different branches of biomedical sciences who are appointed by the Holy Father to work with Vatican dicasteries to discuss issues related to science and the protection of the dignity of human life.

In total, Pope Francis has either appointed or confirmed 50 members to the Academy.

Those also from the U.S. are: John M. Haas, president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia; Kathleen M. Foley, M.D., attending neurologist in the Pain and Palliative Care Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and professor of neurology, neuroscience, and clinical pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medicine of Cornell University; Ignatius John Keown, professor of Christian ethics at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.; and Daniel Sulmasy, professor of bioethics at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

Other lay members named to the Academy are: Etsuko Akiba; Niggel Biggar; Francesco D’Agostino; Bruno Dallapiccola; Jokin de Irala Estevez; Mounir Abdel Messih Shehata Farag; Rodrigo Guerre Lopez; Alicja Grzeskowiak; Mohamed Haddad; Kostantinos Kornarakis; Katarina Le Blanc; Alain F. G. Lejeune; Jean-Marie Le Mene; Mónica Lopex Barahona; Ivan Luts; Manfred Lutz; Anne-Marie Pelletier; Adrian Messina; Alejandro César Serani Merlo; Avraham Steinberg; Jaroslav Sturma; William F. Sullivan; Fernando Szlajen; Marie-Jo Thiel; Angelo Vescovi; Alberto Villani; Shinya Yamanaka; and René Zamora Marin.

Clergy named are: Archbishop Anthony Colin Fisher of Sydney (Australia); Fr. Aníbal Gil Lopes; Bishop Daniel Nlandu Mayi of Matadi (Democratic Republic of the Congo); Mons. Luño Ángel Rodriguez; Bishop Noël Simard of Valleyfield (Canada); Mons. Jacques Koudoubi Simpore; Fr. Tomi Thomas; Bishop Alberto German Bochatey, auxiliary bishop of La Plata (Argentina); Fr. Maurizio Chiodi; Archbishop Fernando Natalio Chomali Garib of Concepcion (Chile); Fr. Roberto Colombo; and Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk of Utrecht (Netherlands).

The Pope has also named and confirmed five honorary members of the Academy: Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, archbishop emeritus of Bologna, past president of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family; Bishop lgnacio Carrasco de Paula, president emeritus of the Pontifical Academy for Life (Spain); Birthe Lejeune, vice president of the Jéróme Lejeune Foundation, Paris; widow of the first president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, the Servant of God Jérôme Lejeune; Cardinal Elio Sgreccia, president emeritus of the Pontifical Academy for Life; President of the International Federation of Centers and Institutes of Bioethics of the Personalist School, President of the Ut Vitam Habeant Foundation (Vatican City); and Juan de Dios Vial Correa, president emeritus of the Pontifical Academy for Life and rector emeritus of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile (Chile).

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VATICAN NEWS

Philosopher who supports legal abortion joins Vatican pro-life academy

CNA/EWTN News • June 13, 2017

A view of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City on Jan. 25, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Philosopher Nigel Biggar, who backs legal abortion, is among the 45 new appointments to the Pontifical Academy for Life, according to a statement on the Vatican website.

Biggar, the Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford, has said that he supports legal abortion up to 18 weeks.

In a 2011 dialogue with Peter Singer, a philosopher who supports infanticide, Biggar said: “I would be inclined to draw the line for abortion at 18 weeks after conception, which is roughly about the earliest time when there is some evidence of brain activity, and therefore of consciousness. In terms of maintaining a strong social commitment to preserving human life in hindered forms, and in terms of not becoming too casual about killing human life, we need to draw the line much more conservatively.”

He added: “It’s not clear that a human foetus is the same kind of thing as an adult or a mature human being, and therefore deserves quite the same treatment. It then becomes a question of where we draw the line, and there is no absolutely cogent reason for drawing it in one place over another.”

Biggar has also opposed the legalization of assisted suicide, and written in defense of just war.

Other appointments to the Academy include Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, Dr. John M. Haas, President of the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, and Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney.

The pontifical academy was founded by Pope St. John Paul II and professor Jerome Lejeune in 1994 and is dedicated to promoting the Church’s consistent life ethic.

The appointments come at a time when the Pontifical Academy for Life is under sharp scrutiny and criticism from former members, who are concerned by the actions of current president Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who has been head of the Academy for nine months.

In November, Archbishop Paglia implemented new statutes for the academy that ended the terms of the 172 members of the academy (with some subject to possible renewal), and removed a requirement for new members to sign a statement promising to defend life in conformity with the Church’s magisterium.

Christine Vollmer, a founding member of the academy and president of the Latin American Alliance for the Family, told the National Catholic Register that Archbishop Paglia’s actions amount to the “elimination” of the institution which St. John Paul II founded.

Mercedes Wilson, president of Family of the Americas and also a founding member of the academy, told the Register that Archbishop Paglia’s appointment is “very tragic” and said that he seemingly wishes to “destroy” both the academy and the Pope St. John Paul II Pontifical Institute on Studies on Marriage and Family, to which he was appointed grand chancellor last year.

Archbishop Paglia defended his actions in comments to the Register, and urged anyone with concerns to read what he has said and written in defense of life.

He added that new members will be “not only talented and accomplished,” but also “truly representative of all who value life at all its stages,” and said his vision for the academy is one that must “express clearly what it means to be human and must present an attractive vision of human love and solidarity,” drawing on the Church’s “great treasury of human and Gospel wisdom” to inspire all cultures “to a new and fruitful humanism.”

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VATICAN NEWS

General Audience: Beloved children, the certainty of hope

The Holy See Press Office • June 14, 2017

Vatican City — This morning’s General Audience took place at 9.25 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, where the Holy Father Francis met with groups of pilgrims and faithful from Italy and all over the world.

Beforehand, shortly after 9.00, the Pope had greeted sick people and their families in the Paul VI Hall.

In his address in Italian the Pope focused on the theme “Beloved children, the certainty of hope” (cf. Lk 15: 20-24a).

After summarizing his catechesis in several languages, the Holy Father addressed special greetings to the groups of faithful present.

The General Audience concluded with the recital of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic Blessing.

Holy Father’s greeting to the sick

Good morning to you all!

Please be seated, be seated …

Today we will hold the audience in two different places, but we will be joined by the maxi-screen, and so you will be more comfortable here, because in the square it is very hot! It will be a Turkish bath today …

Thank you very much for coming. And afterwards, listen to what I will say, but with the heart joined to those who are in the square: the Church is like this. A group here, a group there, but all united. And who unites the Church? The Holy Spirit. Let us pray to the Holy Spirit to unite us all here today, in this audience.

Veni, Sancte Spiritus …

Our Father …

Hail Mary …

And now, I give you my blessing.

[Blessing]

Thank you, and pray for me! Do not forget! And we will continue to see each other …

Catechesis of the Holy Father

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

Today we will hold this audience in two places, but connected by maxi-screens: people who are sick, who cannot bear the heat, are in the Paul VI Hall, and we are here. But we are still all together and connected by the Holy Spirit, as it is He Who always makes unity. Let us greet those who are in the Hall!

None of us can live without hope. And an ugly slavery we can fall prey to is that of considering that love must be deserved. Perhaps a good part of the anguish of contemporary humanity derives from this: believing that if we are not strong, attractive and beautiful, then no-one will concern themselves with us. Many people today seek visibility simply to fill an inner void: as if we were eternally in need of affirmation. However, imagine a world in which everyone begs to attract the attention of others, while no-one is willing to freely love another person? Imagine a world like that: a world without loving freely! It seems like a human world but in reality it is hell. Many of man’s narcissisms are born of feelings of solitude and orphanhood. Behind many apparently inexplicable forms of behavior there is a hidden question: it is possible that I do not deserve to be called by name, that is, to be loved? Because love always calls us by name …

When it is an adolescent who does not feel loved, then violence can arise. Behind many forms of social hatred and disorderly conduct there is often a heart that has not been acknowledged. Bad children do not exist, and nor do entirely bad teenagers, but unhappy people do exist. And what can make us happy if not the experience of love, given and received? The life of the human being is an exchange of looks – someone who looks at us, raising the first smile from us, and we who freely smile at those who are closed up in their sadness, and in this way we open up a way out. An exchange of glances: looking into the eyes and opening the doors of the heart.

The first step that God takes towards us is that of an anticipatory and unconditional love. God loves first. God does not love us because there is some reason in us that inspires love. God loves us because He Himself is love, and love tends by nature to spread, and to give of itself. God does not link even His benevolence to our conversion: if anything, this is a consequence of the love of God. St. Paul says perfectly, “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rm 5: 8). While we were still sinners. An unconditional love. We were distant, like the prodigal son of the parable: “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion …” (Lk 15: 20). Out of love for us, God carried out an exodus from Himself, to come and find us in that land where it was absurd for Him to pass through. God loved us even when we were in error.”

Who among us loves in this way, if not fathers or mothers? A mother continues to love her son even when this son is in prison. I remember many mothers who stood in line to enter the jail, in my former diocese. And they were not ashamed. The son was in jail, but he was their son. And they suffered many humiliations and searches before entering, but: “He is my son!.” “But your son is a delinquent!” “He is my son.” Only this love, of a mother or father, can enable us to understand how God’s love is. A mother does not ask for the cancellation of human justice, because every error demands redemption, but a mother never ceases to suffer for her own child. She loves him even when he is a sinner. God does the same thing with us: we are his beloved children! But is it possible that God has some children He does not love? No. We are all God’s beloved children. There is no malediction on our life, only the benevolent word of God, Who drew our existence out of nothing. The truth of all this is that relationship of love that binds the Father with the Son through the Holy Spirit, a relation in which we are received by grace. In Him, in Christ Jesus, we are wanted, loved, desired. There is Someone Who has impressed in us a primordial beauty, that no sin, no mistaken decision can ever completely cancel out. We are always, before the eyes of God, little fountains from which good water is intended to spring. Jesus says so to the Samaritan woman: “The water that I will give [you] will become in [you] a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4: 14).

To change the heart of an unhappy person, what is the medicine? What is the medicine to change the heart of a person who is not happy? [Those present reply: love]. Louder! [Love!] Good! Good, all of you! And how do you make someone feel that they are loved? First of all, we must embrace them. Make them feel that they are wanted, they are important, and they will stop being sad. Love calls to love, more strongly than hatred calls to death. Jesus did not die and rise again for Himself, but for us, so that are sins can be forgiven. It is therefore the time of resurrection for all: a time to lift up the poor from their discouragement, especially those who lie in the tomb for much longer than three days. Here there blows on our faces a breeze of freedom. Here there germinates the gift of hope. And hope is that of God the Father, Who loves us as we are: He loves all of us, always. Thank you.

Greetings in various languages: English

I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s audience, particularly the groups from England, Sweden, Hong Kong, Pakistan, the Philippines, Korea, Thailand, Canada and the United States of America. Upon all of you, and your families, I invoke the joy and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana (vatican.va)

VATICAN NEWS

In latest meetings, cardinal advisors continue forward with reform

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • June 14, 2017

A view of the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica from the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. (Lauren Cater/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis and the Council of Cardinals held their 20th round of meetings in Rome this week, continuing their work on reform of the Roman Curia, including their discussion of ways the Curia can better serve local churches.

According to a June 14 communique, the meetings largely continued the work of previous gatherings, including progress on the possibility of transferring some faculties from Vatican dicasteries to local bishops or episcopal conferences “in a spirit of healthy decentralization.”

Proposals also considered ways in which the Curia could deepen service to the local churches, as well as widen the scope of those consulted in the proposal of candidates for bishop appointments to include more lay people and members of consecrated life.

Taking place at the Vatican June 12-14, all nine members were present for the five sessions of meetings, with the exception of Cardinal Sean O’Malley. Pope Francis was present except for Wednesday morning during the general audience, as is ordinary.

As during their meetings in April, the cardinals continued their inspection of texts proposed for submission to Pope Francis on the dicasteries for Interreligious Dialogue, Eastern Churches, Legislative Texts, and the three courts of the Roman Curia: the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Apostolic Signatura, and the Roman Rota.

The Apostolic Penitentiary is the tribunal in charge of cases involving excommunication and serious sins, including those whose absolution is reserved to the Holy See, while the Signatura functions as a sort of Supreme Court. The Rota, for its part, is akin to a court of appeals or court of “last instance,” and is also where marriage nullity cases are judged.

They also made further considerations on various departments, in particular the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Cardinal George Pell gave an update on the Secretariat for the Economy. “Particular attention has been paid to the steps taken in the process of planning the economic resources and the monitoring of the financial plans for the first quarter of 2017, which substantially confirmed, with few exceptions, the budget data,” the communique stated.

Cardinal Pell reported that they will soon begin the process of planning the budget for 2018 and monitoring the second quarter of 2017.

Head of the Vatican Secretariat for Communications, Bishop Dario Edoardo Viganò reported on the state of the reform of the Holy See communications. In his presentation he highlighted the positive economic and managerial performance of the Secretariat.

He also explained the projects under the new communication system, formed by Pope Francis in June 2015, saying that they are in line with the Pope’s words during his audience at the dicastery’s first plenary May 3-5.

Established by Pope Francis shortly after his pontificate began in 2013, the Council of Cardinals serves as an advisory body on Church governance and reform, with special emphasis on the reform of Pastor bonus, the apostolic constitution which governs the Roman Curia.

Keywords that have come out of the cardinals’ meetings so far and which have emerged as guiding principles for the ongoing Curial reform are harmonization, simplification, synodality, and the Church’s “missionary drive.”

The council of cardinals is set to meet again September 11-13 to continue discussion on moving forward in reforming curial structures.

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VATICAN NEWS

Vatican group meets to discuss situation of migrants around the world

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • June 15, 2017

A view of St. Peter’s Basilica and Vatican City flag from the roof of a nearby building on June 5, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — The Vatican section on Migrants and Refugees met this week with Church leaders from around the world to hear about the challenges of migration faced in different parts of the world and to work on the Church’s contribution to a UN global compact on the topic.

According to a press statement ahead of the event, the private meetings, held June 12-13 in the Vatican, included some 40 leaders “directly involved in the protection of migrants and refugees’ rights and in the fight against human trafficking.”

This session “is the first time that our new Migrants and Refugees section has had the chance to consult with leaders of the Church throughout the world, from all the different continents, from the various major bishops’ conferences, and from some national conferences,” Fr. Michael Czerny told CNA June 13.

“So we’ve had our first chance to take a look at the world situation of refugees and migrants through the eyes of those who are most concerned in the Church.”

Jesuit Fr. Michael Czerny is secretary of the new Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2017, and includes a special section on migrants and refugees currently headed by the Pope himself.

The meetings provided the opportunity for collaboration, and to hear and learn from different perspectives. “I think we’re united in our common care, our common concern, but we’re just as anxious to hear what the different situations are in reality,” he said.

“For example, there were moments when we were concerned about how migrants were arriving, and there were bishops saying, yes, but why aren’t you asking why they are leaving? It’s not that one is the right question, and the other is the wrong, but from different points of view, different questions are vital.”

Another aim of the session was to begin the process of creating a working document for the Church’s participation in the United Nations global compact on migration, which will be the first agreement negotiated between governments covering all dimensions of international migration.

The UN process began in April 2017 and will conclude with an intergovernmental conference on international migration at the end of 2018 with the intention of adoption the compact.

“These points that we’ve discussed for two days,” Fr. Czerny said, “are the points that we will be urging upon the governments of the world, and upon the United Nations, so that the compact on migrants will be as open, as dignified, as effective, as possible.”

Among the points discussed are pastoral issues concerning migrants, refugees, displaced persons, asylum seekers and victims of trafficking. In addition to the UN project, they will likely be shared as well in departmental publications and messages of the Holy Father, he said.

This meeting was important, Fr. Czerny continued, because the Church “cares very deeply about those who are forced to flee, whatever the reason, and for those who are victims of human trafficking.”

“And if we can help in some way or another, that these people have an easier time of it, that they have less suffering, or encounter fewer obstacles, that they are safe and secure and can live their lives happily and productively – that’s bringing the Gospel, that’s bringing the Good News to people, and we’re happy to do that.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Millennials: Do you have something to say to the bishops? Here’s your chance

CNA/EWTN News • June 15, 2017

Opening Mass for the Assembly of Synod of the Bishops on the Family on Oct. 4, 2015. (Martha Calderon/CNA)

Vatican City — The General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops announced the launch of a new website for the upcoming synod on youth, and encouraged young people to take the survey available there.

The theme for the 50th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, set to take place in 2018, is “Young People, the Faith and the Discernment of Vocation.” It follows the much-talked about Extraordinary and Ordinary Synods of Bishops on the Family, held in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

While much of the new website is currently only available in Italian, it includes a survey for young people in multiple different languages: Italian, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

The answers to the survey will be sent to the synod’s Secretary General, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, through November 30, 2017, and will be used to provide the bishops with an understanding of what it’s like to be a young person in the Church.

The preparatory document for the synod defines youth as being individuals 16-29 years old, but also takes into account that the definition of “young” is different depending on where you’re from. The survey allows for answers from people born in the year 1950 or later.

The broad survey includes questions about education, home and family life, what young people think about themselves, and how much trust they have in institutions such as the government and the Church.

It is part of an “extensive consultation that the General Secretariat is doing at all levels of the people of God,” according to a Vatican statement.

The website also includes videos, photos and messages from the Pope to young people, as well as the preparatory document and a history of the synod.

The theme for the 2018 synod was announced in October 2016.

“Through every phase of this Synod, the Church wants again to state her desire to encounter, accompany and care for every young person, without exception,” the preparatory document reads.

“The Church cannot, nor does she wish to, abandon them to the isolation and exclusion to which the world exposes them.”

According to the document, the Church wants to ask young people how best to reach them with the message of the Gospel.

“By listening to young people, the Church will once again hear the Lord speaking in today’s world. Listening to their aspirations, the Church can glimpse the world which lies ahead and the paths the Church is called to follow.”

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VATICAN NEWS

In book foreword, Pope Francis calls corruption a ‘cancer’

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • June 15, 2017

Pope Francis at the General Audience in St. Peter’s Square on April 13, 2016. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis, in a foreword to a work by Cardinal Peter Turkson, has said corruption infects the world like a cancer, and the Church must combat it by working together with society, infusing it with mercy.

“We must all work together, Christians, non-Christians, people of all faiths and non-believers, to combat this form of blasphemy, this cancer that weighs our lives,” the Pope wrote.

“It is urgent to take notice of it, and this is why we need education and a merciful culture, we need cooperation on the part of everyone according to their own possibilities, their talents, their creativity.”

Hi words on corruption were written in a foreword for Corrosion, a book-length interview of Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, published June 15.

The interview was conducted by Vittorio V. Alberti, a member of the Cardinal Turkson’s dicastery.

The book was presented at the Vatican during an “International Debate on Corruption.” Italian daily Corriere della Sera published the Pope’s foreword June 14, just ahead of the book’s release.

Corruption, Francis wrote, in its Italian etymological root, means “a tear, break, decomposition, and disintegration.”

The life of a human being can be understood in the context of his many relationships: with God, with his neighbor, with creation, the Pope said.

“This threefold relationship – in which man’s self-reflection also falls – gives context and sense to his actions and, in general, to his life,” but these are destroyed by corruption.

When we respect these relationships we are honest, responsible, and work for the common good. But when corruption enters in, they become torn. “Thus, corruption expresses the general form of disordered life of the decayed man,” he said.

And this has an effect on all of society.

What, for example, he asked, is at the root of exploitation, degradation, human trafficking, trafficking of weapons and drugs, social injustice, lack of service for people? What is the origin of slavery, unemployment, carelessness for cities, common goods, and nature?

Corruption “is a profound cultural question that needs to be addressed.”

But in order to address it, we must understand the different forms of corruption, besides merely the political, like those that infect even the average person.

For example, Francis said, our corruption can be a “spiritual worldliness, tepidness, hypocrisy, triumphalism, to make prevail only the spirit of the world in our lives, a sense of indifference.”

In the book, Cardinal Turkson explains the ramifications of these different forms of corruption, he continued, focusing in particular on the origins of corruption: which, “in fact, sprouts in the heart of man and can sprout in the heart of all men.”

“We are, in fact, all very exposed to the temptation of corruption: even when we think it has been defeated, it can be present again,” he said.

Cardinal Turkson explores the different types of corruption, including spiritual, cultural, political, and criminal, as well as the various ways in which they come about and insinuate themselves into our lives. Putting these together, he shows what the Church must do, the Pope said.

“The Church must listen, raise herself and bend herself on the sorrows and hopes of people according to mercy, and must do so without fear of purifying herself, assiduously seeking a way to improve.”

“Henri de Lubac wrote that the greatest danger for the Church is spiritual worldliness – therefore corruption – which is more disastrous than the infamous leprosy.”

“And it is with this awareness that we, men and women of the Church, can accompany ourselves and the suffering humanity, especially those most oppressed by the criminal consequences and degradation created by corruption.”

To fight the many ways we may allow corruption into our lives, we must join together, Francis said. On our own we are like individual pieces of snow, both Christians and non-Christians. But united, we can become like an avalanche, he explained: “a strong and constructive movement.”

“Here is the new humanism, this renaissance, this re-creation against corruption that we can accomplish with prophetic audacity.”

Writing from inside the Vatican, Francis reflected on the ways beauty can transcend sin and corruption.

“This beauty is not a cosmetic accessory, but something that puts the human person in the center so that it can lift the head against all injustices,” he said.

“This beauty should marry with justice. Thus we must speak about corruption, denounce evils, understand it, and show the will to affirm mercy for grief, curiosity and creativity for resigned fatigue, beauty for nothing.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope picks secretary for Dicastery on Integral Human Development

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • June 16, 2017

A view of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City on Jan. 25, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — On Friday, the Vatican announced Pope Francis’ pick of human rights expert Fr. Bruno-Marie Duffé for secretary of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, making him the final piece of the leadership puzzle for the new department.

From the French diocese of Lyon, Fr. Duffé’s appointment completes a period of development for the dicastery, which went into effect Jan. 1 and combines the former Pontifical Councils for Justice and Peace, Cor Unum, Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, and Healthcare Workers.

The new mega-dicastery is headed by Cardinal Peter Turkson, who since March 2013 had served as president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Francis also formed a special Migrants and Refugees Section within the dicastery, with himself as head, at least for the time being.

With Fr. Duffé’s appointment, the leadership of the dicastery is finally complete. Previously, Fr. Duffé was a member of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Born on Aug. 21, 1951 in Lyon, France, Fr. Duffé, 65, was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Lyon in 1981.

He holds a doctorate in political philosophy, a master’s in theology, and a diploma from the School of Advanced Social Studies of Science and the Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.

He’s been a professor of moral theology and social doctrine of the Church at the Catholic University of Lyon and the Jesuit Center of Baume lex Aix since 1982.

From 1985-2004 he co-founded and later directed the Institute for Human Rights at the Catholic University of Lyon, actively contributing to the creation of the UNESCO Chair on minority rights.

He served as chaplain of the Regional Center for Cancer Control from 2004-2014, and co-chaired the Ethics Committee at Léon Bérard.

Episcopal Vicar of “Family, Health and Society” since 2012, he works on the Diocesan Council of Solidarity, created in 2013. He also initiated a coordination for the migrant crisis for the Diocese of Lyon.

From 1999 to 2015 he visited Haiti, Rwanda, Kosovo, Ukraine, Algeria, Cameroon, Israel, and Palestine. In some of these countries, he accompanied groups of young people, students and teachers.

He speaks French, English, Spanish and Italian.

While the original name of the new congregation for Integral Human Development was initially expected to include the elements of the councils it will merge, the final choice is a reflection of Pope Francis’ own personal style and is reminiscent of themes he has spoken of frequently since his election.

In his Motu Proprio “Humanam progressionem,” signed Aug. 17, 2016 Pope Francis stressed that the Church is called to promote the integral development of the human person in the light of the Gospel, which “takes place by attending to the inestimable goods of justice, peace, and the care of creation.”

He approved the statutes for the new dicastery “ad experimentum,” explaining that it will be competent “particularly in issues regarding migrants, those in need, the sick, the excluded and marginalized, the imprisoned and the unemployed, as well as victims of armed conflict, natural disasters, and all forms of slavery and torture.”

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WORLD NEWS

Iraqi Christians endure despite persecution, Chaldean bishop says

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • June 9, 2017

An internally displaced Iraqi Christian family take shelter at the Syriac Catholic Mrtshmony Shrine in Erbil. (Aid to the Church in Need)

Washington D.C. — Iraq’s Christians have suffered persecution for centuries, yet their faith has survived and the community will remain, provided their material needs are met, a Chaldean Catholic bishop has said.

“The story of suffering of Iraqi Christians is an ongoing phenomenon,” Bishop Bawai Soro, auxiliary bishop of the Chaldean Eparchy of Saint Peter the Apostle of San Diego, told CNA in an interview. “For two thousand years, it’s a story of suffering, a suffering Church,” he added, a “Church of the martyrs.”

Bishop Soro, a native of Iraq who came to the United States as a refugee in 1976, related of how his grandparents had told him of the massacre of Assyrian and Chaldean Christians in the region around the time of World War I, where hundreds of thousands of Assyrians in the Ottoman Empire were killed or dispersed by the new progressive government.

“The same thing, the whole story was repeated again after 100 years,” he said. “But amazingly, if my grandparents survived this difficulty and were able to hand their faith to the next generations, this suffering generation will do the same.”

Bishop Soro spoke with CNA June 7 after a press conference on Capitol Hill for the Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act of 2017, a bill that would let the U.S. distribute humanitarian aid directly to churches in Iraq and Syria so that it reaches Christian genocide victims there.

There have been many reports that U.S. aid is not reaching Christians, because either they are not in the U.N. refugee camps or the aid gets swallowed up in the bureaucracy of the Iraqi central or local governments. The bill, supported by Bishop Soro, would look to ensure that aid reaches those who need it most. The bill passed the U.S. House on Tuesday and will move to the Senate.

“The current situation of Christians in Iraq and Syria remains very fragile,” Bishop Soro stated at the press conference. “As a religious minority, Christians still suffer from remaining elements of radical Islamist groups and their policies.”

Christians in Iraq have drastically dwindled in number since the U.S. war in Iraq began in 2003, dropping from around 1.5 million to below 300,000.

After the Islamic State swept through northern Iraq in 2014, killing and displacing those Yazidis, Christians, Muslims, and others who refused to submit to their theocracy, refugee families fled east to Kurdistan, and have lived in temporary shelters around Erbil.

Their situation is an emergency, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), chair of the House panel on global human rights, stated at Wednesday’s press conference, as the private aid has been stretched to its limits and, according to Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil, they are expected to face “severe food shortages.”

Christians have also been “undercut” by aid groups that “would like to be politically correct” and believe in helping all persons equally, Bishop Soro said. Christians and other minorities need more aid from these groups, he insisted, because they may not receive any international aid from the UN or countries like the U.S.

“I think the American Church has a mission to go out of the political correctness when helping Christians is concerned, and to address the needs of the Christians,” he insisted to CNA.

Christians in America also need to “continue the political pressure” and hold the U.S. government accountable on the equitable distribution of aid and “directly help the Christian communities,” he said.

Yet, although it is vital for the immediate needs of Iraq’s Christians, they must also have the means to support themselves and live comfortably in the future with their homes rebuilt and with access to water, electricity, and health care.

Also, as citizens of Iraq they must be able to enjoy all the rights they are entitled to, he continued. “After the short-term financial needs are met, constitutional freedom and liberties are needed in stabilizing the Christians in Iraq and Syria for the long-term,” he said.

It is vital to keep Christians in Iraq because they “are, and have always been, the founders of educational and health care institutions” in the region, he stated on Wednesday.

“They often were the peacemakers and the catalysts of reforms,” he continued.

“As a religious minority and as a peace-loving people, they, and they alone, can once more bring together all the major segments of the Iraqi people, Shiites, Sunni, Yazidis, the Kurds, and the rest of the minorities. As a helping agent that delicately and serenely heals the present and offers a promising future.”

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WORLD NEWS

Polish bishops see continuity between Amoris laetitia, Familiaris consortio

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 9, 2017

The Polish bishops hold their plenary assembly in Zakopane on June 6, 2017. (Eliza Bartkiewicz/BP KEP)

Krakow, Poland — The pastoral care of families was one of the key areas of discussion for Poland’s bishops in their latest plenary assembly, which focused on continuity between the teaching of St. John Paul II and Pope Francis.

“The bishops understand that the Church thinks in a linear way; it’s not a change of teaching, but it is in one line,” Fr. Pawel Rytel-Andrianik, spokesman for the Polish bishops’ conference, told CNA June 9.

“In Familiaris consortio and Amoris laetitia you have one line in terms of teaching on the family,” he said, noting that a large chuck of the first day of their June 6-7 plenary focused on the progress of guidelines for the application of Amoris laetitia regarding the pastoral care of families in general, as well as couples in irregular unions.

According to the official communique issued after the plenary assembly, the main idea guiding discussion of the issue was “that Familiaris consortio and Amoris laetitia are in the same line, with this linear understanding of these documents” in terms of Church teaching.

The Polish bishops, who typically meet three times a year in plenary assemblies, held their latest gathering in Zakopane, nearly 70 miles south of Krakow, to mark the 20th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s visit to the town.

Falling within the 100th anniversary of the Fatima Marian apparitions, the plenary was also meant to honor the centenary.

On the first day of the plenary the bishops renewed the Act of Consecration of the Church in Poland to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which was originally made Sept. 8, 1946, by Cardinal August Hlond of Warsaw and Gniezno at the Jasna Gora shrine in Cz?stochowa.

The renewal of the consecration, especially in the centenary year of the Fatima apparitions, Fr. Rytel-Andrianik said, is “very, very important for the life of the Church in Poland.” In fact, “more than 70 percent of all parishes in Poland have a special devotion to Our Lady of Fatima.”

Pope Francis’ 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia, on love in the family, was also a focus of discussion at the bishops’ assembly. The document has been the subject of varied reception and interpretation, particularly regarding the pastoral care of divorced-and-remarried persons.

The sticking point is whether Amoris laetitia‘s eighth chapter, on accompanying, discerning and integrating weakness, has opened the door for divorced persons who have remarried, and without taking on the duty to live in complete continence, to receive reconciliation and Communion.

Some, like Robert Spaemann and the four cardinals who submitted dubia to Pope Francis regarding the exhortation, have maintained Amoris laetitia is incompatible with Church teaching; and others, like Cardinal Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, that it has not changed the Church’s discipline or teaching.

Still others, like Norbert Lüdecke and the Maltese episcopal conference, read ambiguities in Amoris laetitia as opening the way to a new pastoral practice; or even (e.g., Rocco Buttiglione, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna) as a progression in continuity with the teaching of St. John Paul II.

As for the Polish bishops, Fr. Rytel-Andrianik said they agreed that what Pope Francis wrote in Amoris laetitia is “the same teaching as Familiaris consortio.”

The bishops, he said, constantly call for “a new approach to these people to try to include them into the life of the Church, in the light of Amoris laetitia and in the light of Familiaris consortio 84.”

In paragraph 84 of Familiaris consortio, St. John Paul II said that the increase in the number of divorced couples who have entered into new unions is a problem which “must be faced with resolution and without delay.”

“I earnestly call upon pastors and the whole community of the faithful to help the divorced, and with solicitous care to make sure that they do not consider themselves as separated from the Church, for as baptized persons they can, and indeed must, share in her life,” he said.

Going on, St. John Paul II said these couples “should be encouraged to listen to the word of God, to attend the Sacrifice of the Mass, to persevere in prayer, to contribute to works of charity and to community efforts in favor of justice, to bring up their children in the Christian faith, to cultivate the spirit and practice of penance and thus implore, day by day, God’s grace. Let the Church pray for them, encourage them and show herself a merciful mother, and thus sustain them in faith and hope.”

Pope Francis expressed much of the same sentiments in Amoris laetitia, particularly on the need to welcome these couples and encourage their participation in parish life, so that they don’t feel stigmatized or ostracized.

Fr. Rytel-Andrianik said “the bishops appreciate, very much, Amoris laetitia,” and see it as “a treasure of the Church that builds on Familiaris consortio.”

Although the Polish bishops have yet to publish official guidelines for the application of Amoris laetitia, as some other bishops’ conferences have, Fr. Rytel-Andrianik said the guidelines are in the final phases of revision, and should come out sometime in autumn.

In addition to the application of Amoris laetitia, other key issues discussed during the plenary were the new pastoral program for the Church in Poland for the coming year, liturgical questions, and cooperation with the state when it comes to protection of minors.

Specifically, discussion on abuse prevention focused on adjusting ecclesial law to match an amendment to the state’s penal code that will go into effect in July, introducing a strict legal obligation to report immediately incidents of sex abuse or consensual sex with a minor to the appropriate authorities.

In terms of the new pastoral program for 2017-2018, the year will be dedicated to the Holy Spirit and the sacrament of Confirmation, according to the Polish bishops’ official website.

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WORLD NEWS

Want Pope Francis to visit South Sudan? Work for peace, bishops say

CNA/EWTN News • June 11, 2017

Catholics at a camp for internally displaced persons near Malakal, South Sudan on Jan. 13, 2016. (J.C. McIlwaine/U.N. Photo via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Juba, South Sudan — The news that Pope Francis will not be able to visit South Sudan this year prompted the nation’s bishops to voice reassurances that a future visit is possible, and ask for a renewed commitment to peace.

“Pope Francis is very particularly (concerned) about the welfare of the suffering people in the world, and so is he for South Sudan,” the bishops said June 6, adding that the Pope “continues to remind us of the costs of war, particularly on the powerless and defenseless, and urge us toward the imperative of peace.”

Bishop Barani Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio, president of the Sudan Catholic Bishops Conference, wrote the statement representing bishops from both Sudan and South Sudan.

He noted the Pope’s great concern about the country and his prayers for South Sudan on several occasions at the Angelus and at the weekly audiences in Vatican City.

Sudan has been the scene of nearly continuous civil war since it gained independence in 1956. Many of the initial problems were caused by corruption in the government, which led to the political, economic, and religious marginalization of the country’s peripheries.

South Sudan became an independent country in 2011, but has been torn by a civil war since December 2013, between the state forces – the Sudan People’s Liberation Army – and opposition forces, as well as sectarian conflict. A peace agreement was eventually signed, but was broken by violence in the summer of 2016.

The bishops voiced “great desire, hope and expectation” that a papal visit will be reconsidered, noting it would be the first papal visit to the new country of South Sudan. St. John Paul II visited Sudan in 1993.

A visit from Pope Francis could have “uplifted the faith” of Christians and other believers and raise expectations of peace. His presence would console the grieving and heal the broken-hearted, they said.

The bishops said the Pope’s decision not to visit in 2017 should be received “in respect and prayer.” They suggested challenges facing the country, including lack of security, were obstacles to a papal visit.

They encouraged the faithful of the two countries to embark “a very serious spiritual self-discernment” that includes peace-building in order to create an atmosphere conducive to a papal visit.

“Be that agent of change needed in South Sudan! Pray a lot more in sincere repentance of heart with the aim of consolidating peace in the country,” the bishops of Sudan and South Sudan said. “It is only such activities which can bring the Holy Father to South Sudan in no distant period.”

The bishops reflected on Pope Francis’ witness in the world.

“The Holy Father has been a leading voice for peace and for dialogue between people of different faiths and nations,” the bishops’ statement continued. “He has also, in both his words and his deeds, called all of us to address the challenges of poverty and inequality in our own country and around the world.”

“He reminds us that in the eyes of God our measure as individuals, and our measure as a society, is not determined by power or wealth or station or celebrity, but by how well we attend to Scripture’s call to lift up the poor and the marginalized, to stand up for justice and against inequality, and to ensure that every human being is able to live in dignity – because we are all made in the image of God,” the bishops said.

In late May, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke confirmed that Pope Francis would not visit South Sudan in 2017. He had hoped to travel there with Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest prelate of the Church of England, to advance peace in the country.

Burke said the trip is still under consideration, but just “not this year.”

In fall 2016 the Pope met with ecumenical leaders from South Sudan. They discussed the situation in the country, stressing the collaboration present among Christians to face its challenges, and the delegation also invited Pope Francis to visit.

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WORLD NEWS

Nigerian priest shares harrowing story of being kidnapped

CNA/EWTN News • June 12, 2017

(271 EAK MOTO via Shutterstock)

Issele-Uku, Nigeria — It was supposed to be a quiet retreat weekend last April for Fr. Sam Okwuidegbe, a Nigerian Jesuit priest and director of a local spirituality center.

Before he left, he chatted with his new provincial, Fr. Chuks Afiawari, who joked with Fr. Sam: “Make sure where you are going they don’t kidnap you.”

“We laughed about it,” Fr. Sam recalled.

Little did the priests know that the joke would be an unfortunate foreshadowing of what was to come. In a testimony posted on the website of the Jesuit Superiors of Africa and Madagascar, Fr. Sam recalled how his faith carried him through a traumatic and harrowing experience of kidnapping.

On his way to the retreat, which was to be in Onitsha, in the state of Anambra, Fr. Sam took a familiar, seemingly safe highway on which he had traveled many times.

That’s why he was so surprised when he heard gunshots.

“On glancing back I saw all the vehicles behind me stopping, and trying to reverse. … That’s when it hit me that there was something dangerous ahead of me,” he recalled.

“On looking up I saw masked men with AK47 rifles shooting. I was so scared. I also stopped my car abruptly and began to reverse, but as I was trying to do that, a man suddenly appeared … and said, ‘If you don’t get out of the car I’ll shoot you.’”

The priest could see behind him that the men had also stopped another car, a black Mercedes, and were forcing two men out of the car. In a hurry, Fr. Sam left his phone in the car.

He quickly identified the armed kidnappers as Fulani herdsmen, a notoriously violent group whose clashes with farmers have killed thousands of people in Nigeria over the past two decades. According to the Global Terrorism Index, they were the fourth most violent militant group in the world in 2014.

Violence against Christians has also significantly increased in the country in recent years, particularly in Muslim-majority areas. In 2016, one Nigerian bishop lamented that Christians had essentially become “target practice.”

The Fulani kidnappers led Fr. Sam and the other two men into the forest at gunpoint for eight hours, barely stopping for breaks. They eventually let one of the two other men go, because he could not keep up with the pace, but they first cut his feet so that he could not escape quickly, Fr. Sam recalled.

“The pace in the forest was jogging, jumping over tree trumps, going over leaves, which often cut through our skin. So it was quite brutal!” Fr. Sam said.

“I was so shaken, and began to ask myself, is this happening to me? What am I doing in this forest? What am I doing here? I felt extremely cold and in my confusion … I’d mutter to myself, this can’t be happening, God. This can’t be happening,” he said.

The captors started questioning Fr. Sam and the other man, and were suspicious when Fr. Sam identified himself as a priest; they thought he might be a government spy. They stripped him of all his belongings – his watch, wallet, and rosary.

When they questioned Fr. Sam about his phone, the captors were enraged that he had left it in his car – which was fortunate, the priest said, because he had saved financial information from his work on it.

The militants asked him if he could remember anyone’s number – someone to call who could negotiate for Fr. Sam’s life and pay off the herdsmen. Traumatized by his experience, Fr. Sam couldn’t remember one phone number.

“That triggered a series of beatings. … They huddled me up, hands and feet tied to the back with a rope like a goat before a kill. They removed my cassock, then my shirt, threw me into the dirt on the ground, and began to beat me with the back of their guns, they’d kick me hard on my sides, slap across my face, push and pull me hard across the ground. … One of them said ‘We are going to burn you alive!’” the priest recalled.

“I really believed that they were going to do it. … I began to pray in silence. … I said, ‘God, I commit to you, I commit my spirit’ and I resigned to the thought of my fate, that I was going to die that day.’”

Finally, the beating stopped. Fr. Sam said he remembers praying constantly through the whole experience.

“I hoped for a miracle … every minute I’d pray saying all kinds of prayers, I’d pray to Saint Ignatius, say the rosary and the Divine Mercy (chaplet) … at one time I found myself singing heartily but in the inside, a Ghanaian song that says ‘God speak to me … God where are you?’ I kept humming in my heart. … It gave me hope,” he said.

Eventually Fr. Sam was able to get the phone number of another Jesuit priest through the contact of the other man in captivity. This priest, Jesuit provincial Fr. Jude Odiaka, began negotiations with the herdsmen.

And while at times he prayed for death, Fr. Sam said he felt better once he had made contact with the Jesuits.

“I knew that word must have gotten around about the kidnapping, and that the sisters at the retreat center and people who knew me all over, must have been praying for me.”

The other man who had been captured with Fr. Sam also was a great comfort, he recalled.

“… the guy I was kidnapped with … he was a grace for me, a gift from God. I hope I was too for him because we exchanged words of encouragement silently, as we were not allowed to talk to each (other).”

Finally, the captors seemed to have gotten what they wanted, and started talking of letting the men go.

“I intensified my prayers and I prayed to God ‘Please God, make this end well,’” Fr. Sam said.

“I recalled a saying that ‘God will not bring you this far, then abandon you,’ so this brought some assurance to my heart,”

When the militants decided to release the men, they were left to wander alone together through the forest, trying to find the pathway out. Eventually, they were able to make it to safety and back home.

While the experience was “painful and traumatizing,” Fr. Sam said one of the best consolations upon his return was hearing from many people, near and far, that they had been praying for him.

“In all these things God revealed to me that I was never abandoned while in the forest, even if I was out of reach and in danger, that God heard the prayers and was with me,” he said.

“It has renewed my faith in God, my faith in people … the human person, God’s gift of friendship and that if what I do matters, then also those people I do it with are also very important.”

Fr. Sam said he also plans to use his experience to help other people in his work as a counselor.

“This has also given me an understanding to accompany those who come to me for help seeking solace, encouragement, strength, hope, renewal … you know … maybe that’s why it happened,” he said.

“I’m going to use it in my work as a counselor, psychologist and help those who come to me for help, because what support can be given to people that have been kidnapped? What help can we give such people? I think I have become part of that help with what I have received, and experienced.”

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WORLD NEWS

Church destroyed, Christians detained in China’s Henan province

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • June 14, 2017

Flag of China. (BriYYZ via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0)

Shangqiu, China — Local authorities in China’s Henan province reportedly destroyed a Christian church building last month, beating parishioners who tried to stop the demolition and detaining 40, the group China Aid says.

“The church was completely razed, and a church member likened the scene to the Japanese invasion of China during World War II,” China Aid said.

China Aid, an international non-profit dedicated to promoting religious freedom and human rights for Christians in China, reported that Shuangmiao Christian Church in Shangqiu, which was still under construction, was destroyed May 5 by 300 police officers and inspectors.

Parishioners tried to stop the demolition but many suffered beatings as a result, and were “pushed to the ground,” the report stated. 40 were detained, although no one has yet been formally arrested.

The government had reportedly deemed the church an “illegal structure” and ordered it removed. Church property, as well as that of parishioners and construction workers, was confiscated. The Chinese Communist Party also claimed that the church had failed to pay a “road usage fee” that villagers wanted imposed.

The church’s pastor had previously tried to discuss the matter with officials and was detained for “false charges of assaulting the police station, limiting the freedom of others, and attacking a village representative.” After the attack, he is still in detention but has not yet been formally arrested.

Persecution of Christians in China varies by province, but Henan has seen an uptick in recent years.

In April 2016 Li Jiangong, a pastor in Zhumadian, another city of Henan province, lost his wife when the couple tried to save their house church from being bulldozed in a government-ordered destruction of the church. He “barely escaped” death, according to the most recent annual report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

And in Zhejiang province, more than 1,500 churches have been desecrated or demolished. Churches in Zhejiang have been ordered to stop displaying crosses, and Christians there have been detained.

Overall, the situation of religious freedom in China has deteriorated even more in recent years, USCIRF has noted in its 2017 annual report, as the country’s leader Xi Jingping has “further consolidated power” and worked to promote the “sinicization” of religion.

Religious leaders and human rights activists have reportedly been harassed and detained, and churches, especially Christian house churches, have been targeted for destruction or vandalism.

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WORLD NEWS

Catholic community offers prayer, supplies for London fire victims

CNA/EWTN News • June 14, 2017

Fire engulfs the 24-story Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road, West London in the early hours of this morning on June 14, 2017. (Gurbuz Binici/Getty Images)

London, England — The Catholic bishops of Westminster offered their prayers and local parishes opened their doors to offer aid and supplies to those affected by a massive fire at an apartment complex in west London on Wednesday.

“We pray for all the residents of the Grenfell Tower. I pray particularly for those who have suffered injury, those who have died, and all the residents who are left without a home today, and the entire community that has been affected,” said Cardinal Vincent Nichols in a statement.

On June 14, just after midnight, a fire began on the fourth floor of Grenfell Tower located in north Kensington, a district of west London. The 24-story building is home to hundreds of people, and the fire blazed until early in the morning.

Authorities have said it is too soon for speculation into the cause of the fire.

So far, six people have been reported dead in the fire and some 70 people have been hospitalized for injuries sustained in the incident, including 20 people whose condition is critical.

Hundreds of others who escaped the flames have still lost their homes and all of their belongings, but Catholic parishes in the surrounding area have quickly begun receiving donations of food, clothes, and water to be distributed. Saint Clemente, one nearby church, has seen such an outpouring that it has asked for future donations to be given to a church a few blocks away.

Meanwhile, many residents remain unaccounted for, and friends and family are scrambling to connect with their loved ones.

Auxiliary Bishop John Wilson of Westminster especially offered prayers for “all who are still worried about their loved ones who are unaccounted for.”

Stuart Cundy, commander of the Metropolitan Police, expects the death toll to rise, but he has thus far declined to comment on any details of the missing people due to the complexity and difficulty of the identifying process.

Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton has encouraged surviving residents to report themselves to authorities so they are known to be safe. An emergency number has also been established for friends and family who are worried for loved ones, known to be residents in the building.

According to BBC news, Cotton also expressed concern that people may still be trapped inside, and fire fighters would be expected to stay on the scene until the next day at least.

Cardinal Nichols applauded the emergency response team, which included over 250 firefighters and more than 100 ambulance medics.

“Once again in our city we witness the heroic efforts of our emergency services who responded so quickly. I thank them for all they are doing to help the victims of this devastating fire,” he said.

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WORLD NEWS

‘Roughly half’ of Iraqi, Syrian Christians have fled since 2011

CNA/EWTN News • June 15, 2017

The remains of St. Mary’s Syriac Orthodox parish in Homs. (Aid to the Church in Need)

Amsterdam, Netherlands — A new report estimates that between 50 and 80 percent of Christians have fled the countries of Iraq and Syria since the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011.

Released by Christian advocacy groups Open Doors, Served, and Middle East Concern, the report estimates that at least 100,000 Iraqi Christians have fled or are internally displaced, and that the Christian population of Syria has been ‘roughly halved,’ from about 2 million, since 2011.

“Factors for leaving included the violence of conflict, including the almost complete destruction of some historically Christian towns in the Nineveh plains of northern Iraq, the emigration of others and loss of community, the rate of inflation and loss of employment opportunities, and the lack of educational opportunities,” states the report.

The information for the report was gathered through a series of interviews with various sources, including NGO staffers and religious leaders, and also includes the findings of academic studies.

The report tracked the emigration of those Christians who have fled the Middle East to Europe, even though others have traveled to Asia, Australia or the Americas.

Since the 2003 U.S. invasion and the rise of the Islamic State, increased violence in Iraq and Syria has resulted in the targeted killings and expulsions of many Christians, with many fleeing to Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, or beyond, while others are displaced within their home countries.

The arrival of the Islamic State made the situation especially dire for Christians, who were forced to either pay a tax, convert, or leave if they didn’t want to be killed.

That was the “tipping point” for Christians in the area who had already experienced an “overall loss of hope for a safe and secure future,” the report notes.

Iraq once had a Christian population of as many as 1.4-2 million in the 1990s, which declined to around 300,000 by 2014, and is now down to approximately 100,000. Most of those internally displaced have fled to Erbil.

Pinpointing the exact number of Christians who have stayed in or fled Syria is more difficult, though the report notes that numerous regions and towns that once had large Christian populations have decreased significantly since the start of the war, with some communities all but disappearing.

The report estimates that approximately half of Syria’s estimated 2 million Christians have left, and a survey found that of the Christians still in the country, about 35 percent wish to leave, compared to eight percent of the country’s Muslims.

Of the Christians who fled, many chose to seek resettlement in other countries through family or Church organizations rather than through state-sponsored refugee resettlement programs.

“Trust in churches allows people to feel more comfortable to register with them. Furthermore, it is seen to be less demeaning to have to line up to receive assistance ‘provided in a sensitive way in the safe space of a church,’” the report found.

The hope for return to their home countries varied among those who had fled. For the most part, those who were settled in their destination countries reported not wanting to return, while those who have encountered more difficulties in the resettlement process either have returned or hope to return someday.

Sweden and Germany have become popular destinations because of the ease of resettlement and the ability to find work, though the report found that due to new policies in these countries, that may change.

Published with the report was a policy proposal paper for the EU, since the report tracked only those Christians fleeing to Europe. It made several recommendations, including establishment of an “accountability mechanism,” to the European Union Parliament.

“Creating a national accountability mechanism for grievances is a long-term solution which aims to restore faith in a system that ensures all religious and ethnic communities are affirmed as equal citizens and deserving of protection, while also deterring negative actors from taking adverse actions against these communities,” it stated.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would authorize U.S. government funds to be given to aid groups directly providing assistance to displaced Iraqi and Syrian Christians. The bill has yet to clear the Senate. According to In Defense of Christians, thousands of Iraqi Christians have seen no financial aid from the U.S., despite the U.S. having given the Iraqi government millions of dollars for relief efforts.

As of October 2016, the Chaldean Archeparchy of Erbil has received more than $31 million in funding from Aid to the Church in Need, in addition to support from 16 other Catholic organizations from around the world. The Knights of Columbus have a website dedicated to providing relief to displaced Christians in the Middle East.

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WORLD NEWS

Cameroon’s bishops ask state action to protect clergy in wake of murder

CNA/EWTN News • June 16, 2017

Bishop Jean Marie Benoît Bala of Bafia, who was murdered on May 31, 2017. (National Catholic Register)

Yaoundé, Cameroon — After determining that one of their confreres was murdered two weeks ago, the bishops of Cameroon have called on the national government to take up its task of protecting human life.

Bishop Jean Marie Benoît Bala of Bafia, who was 58, left his residence late in the evening of May 30. He disappeared, and his car was found parked on the Sanaga bridge near Ebebda, about 25 miles northwest of Obala. His body was found June 2, about 10 miles from the bridge.

A note was found in his car which reportedly read: “Do not look for me! I am in the water.” This gave rise to the belief that he had committed suicide.

However, an autopsy showed that the bishop had not drowned, and there were signs of torture on his body.

“Given the initial findings, we, the bishops of Cameroon, affirm that Bishop Jean Marie Benoît Bala did not commit suicide; he was brutally murdered. This is one more murder, and one too many,” read a June 13 statement from the Cameroonian bishops’ conference.

The bishops noted that there have been a number of clerics and consecrated persons whose murders in the country have never been solved, citing, “to mention only a few”: Fr. Joseph Mbassi, killed in 1988; Fr. Antony Fontegh, 1990; Archbishop Yves-Joseph-Marie Plumey, 1991; a group of religious sisters in Djoum, 1992; and Fr. Engelbert Mveng, 1995.

“We have the impression that the clergy of Cameroon are particularly persecuted by obscure and diabolical forces,” the bishops wrote.

They called on the Cameroonian government “to shed complete light on the circumstances and the motives” for Bishop Bala’s murder and that those responsible be identified and handed over to the authorities.

The bishops also asked that the government “assume its noble task of protecting human life, and notably that of ecclesiastical authorities.”

They said they are praying for Bishop Bala’s murderers, asking them “to strive for urgent and radical conversion.”

In light of the rumors that spread about the bishop’s supposed suicide, the bishops addressed the media and social media users, asking them “to renounce defamation, lies, calumnies, and recommending that they respect the dignity of the human person, truth, modesty, and discernment in the use of certain information.”

Addressing the people of the Dioese of Bafia and Bishop Bala’s natural family, the bishops said: “keep courage, for Christ has conquered the world. Your pastors carry with you the dolor of this sad disappearance. Do not let your faith fail.”

“Find the necessary strength in the celebration of the Eucharist,” they advised.

“May the Virgin Mary, Queen of Apostles, Our Lady of Sorrows, Patronness of Cameroon, accompany us in this difficult trial.”

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WORLD NEWS

Stolen relic of St. John Bosco’s brain recovered

CNA/EWTN News • June 16, 2017

St. John Bosco (l) and reliquary in Basilica of John Bosco (r). (CNA)

Turin, Italy — A relic of St. John Bosco, which had been stolen from an Italian basilica two weeks ago, has been recovered, the local Prosecutor’s Office reported.

An urn containing a relic of St. John Bosco’s brain was discovered missing on June 3. The reliquary was kept in the Basilica of John Bosco in Asti, the saint’s birthplace, fewer than 20 miles east of Turin.

According to Italian press reports, the alleged perpetrator of the crime is a 42-year-old man with a criminal record, residing in Pirenolo, Turin. He was arrested by the Asti police. The suspect allegedly planned to sell the reliquary, which he believed to be of solid gold.

St. John Bosco, founder of the Salesians, was a 19th century Italian priest who had a particular love and apostolate for at-risk and underserved youth. Today, the order serves youth throughout the world primarily in schools, homeless shelters, and community centers.

Fr. Enrico Stasi, provincial of the Salesians in Piemonte and Valle d’Aosta, thanked “the judiciary, all the police and all those who have contributed to the positive solution to this unpleasant affair.”

“It is consoling for the Salesians, for the Church in Turin and for the many friends of Don Bosco throughout the world who have abundantly demonstrated their closeness in this time,” he told Agenzia Info Salesiana.

In this regard, he said that “the occasion of the restitution and return of the relic to its original place will be for us and for the faithful another sign of the benevolence and blessing of Don Bosco for those who continue to keep his spirit alive in the world.”

The basilica has experienced some other minor thefts in recent weeks, though nothing of spiritual value.

Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia of Turin also commented on the missing relic, saying it was news “you would never want to hear, because it makes us think of a profound moral misery” that someone would steal something of spiritual and devotional value.

The archbishop told an Italian news source that he asked all of his priests to say a special prayer during their Pentecost Masses for the Salesian family and the recovery of the relic, so that it can “continue to be a point of devotion for the millions of faithful who come to the sanctuary dedicated to him.”

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U.S. NEWS

Oregon’s advance directive bill is deceptive and deadly, critics warn

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • June 9, 2017

(Unsplash)

Salem, OR — The Oregon Senate has passed an advance directive bill that critics say would allow the starvation and dehydration of patients who have dementia or mental illness.

Earlier this week, Oregon Right to Life executive director Gayle Atteberry said the bill was “written in a deceiving manner.” She said its goal was “to save money at the expense of starving and dehydrating dementia and mentally ill patients to death.”

S.B. 494 passed the Oregon Senate by four votes on June 8. The bill would remove existing safeguards that protect conscious patients’ access to ordinary food and water even after they have lost the ability to make decisions about their care.

The bill was drafted in response to the case of Ashland, Ore. resident Nora Harris, who suffered from early onset Alzheimer’s disease. She lost the ability to communicate and the fine motor skills needed to feed herself. She would eat and drink only with assisted spoon feeding.

Harris’ husband had filed a suit to stop the spoon feeding but lost his case in July 2016. Harris herself was represented by a court-appointed attorney, who said that that refusing to help Harris eat would be against state law. The law and Harris’ advance directive authorized only the withdrawal of artificial means of hydration and nutrition. Jackson County Circuit Judge Patricia Crain agreed, the Medford Mail-Tribune reports.

Oregon Right to Life objected to efforts to change the advance directive system.

“If the bill passes, it could allow a court to interpret a request on an advance directive to refuse tube feeding to also mean you don’t want to receive spoon feeding,” the group said in February. “This is not tube feeding or an IV. This is basic, non-medical care for conscious patients.”

Current safeguards limit the authority of the healthcare representative, ensuring a patient is able to receive basic care and their life is not ended, except under certain limited end-of-life conditions.

Bill 494 would effectively render these safeguards null, critics said.

“It doesn’t matter that the bill doesn’t explicitly state this or that this is not the principal intent of the bill, it likely will be the real effect,” said Colm Willis, a Republican candidate for Congress, in testimony to the Senate Rules Committee on behalf of Oregon Right to Life on June 5.

Willis said the bill creates a situation where a person’s previously indicated intentions “may not be reflected in the decisions made for you when you can no longer make those decisions for yourself.”

He noted that even when someone has lost the ability to make complex medical decisions, he or she often retains the ability to decide whether or not to eat.

That person’s will should be “respected as long as possible,” he said.

Oregon Right to Life’s Atteberry told CNA the bill would now move on to a vote at the House of Representatives, where it may have a harder time passing than the Senate, because of a greater number of pro-life representatives.

She said the group would now focus its efforts on asking people to contact their representatives to voice their opposition to the bill.

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U.S. NEWS

Detroit archdiocese challenged to ‘Unleash the Gospel’

CNA/EWTN News • June 10, 2017

Screenshot from ‘Unleash the Gospel’ video. (YouTube)

Detroit, MI — The Archbishop of Detroit has issued a pastoral letter for his local Church which aims to encourage evangelization as an “outward, mission-focused” Church through proper formation and evangelical charity.

Issued June 3, the Vigil of Pentecost, Unleash the Gospel is the fruit of a diocesan synod held in 2016.

The missionary conversion at which the letter aims “entails making one’s relationship with Jesus and alignment with his will the central guiding principle of every aspect of life,” Archbishop Allen Vigneron wrote.

The letter was written in preparation for the coming years and is a reflection on the Detroit diocesan synod which met Nov. 18-20, 2016.

Encapsulating the prayers and discernment of the laity, clergy, and religious who gathered for synod, Archbishop Vigneron expressed hope that this project may help bring “every person at every level of the Church” to share the Gospel.

Unleash the Gospel deals with a foundational conviction, catechesis, 10 “guideposts” to guide the new evangelization, and propositions for action in families, parishes, and the archdiocese as a whole in being evangelizers.

The archbishop identified vices of the local Church, the foremost of which was to see the Church as a wholly human institution, “a life enhancer” which is reduced to a social program. The root of the crisis facing the Church, he said, is the view that God is uninvolved in the world and that mankind is unable to know him.

Other bad habits within the archdiocese identified in the synod were a “status quo mentality,” being guided by fear, spiritual lethargy, and a an attitude of complaint.

He said the new evangelization is neither a “membership drive, nor is it an effort to shore up a code of conduct,” but is rather an invitation “to encounter Jesus and let their hearts be captured by him.”

This, he said, includes the involvement of all the members of the Church, there are no “bystanders” who do not participate in fostering a relationship with Christ as well as leading others to that same love.

The archbishop laid out the vision of an “outward, mission-focused church,” emphasizing a reconstruction of how people encounter Christ in parishes and ministries.

“For families this means that every family embraces its role as the domestic church and, in connection with other families and single persons, actively seeks the spiritual and social renewal of its neighborhood, schools and places of work. For parishes and archdiocesan services it means the renewal of structures to make them Spirit-led and radically mission-oriented.”

The guideposts map out various focuses, including proper tools to “evangelize the evangelizers,” a greater availability of the sacraments, and joyful attraction within parish life.

“This missionary conversion entails a strikingly countercultural way of living grounded in prayer, Scripture, and the sacraments; unusually gracious hospitality; a capacity to include those on the margins of society; and joyful confidence in the providence of God even in difficult and stressful times.”

Archbishop Vigneron wrote that “The Gospel is most effectively shared in person-to-person encounters. Such personal, on-the-spot evangelization can be prepared for and enhanced by programs and processes and media, but it cannot be replaced by them.”

He emphasized that the new evangelization “cannot be accomplished from within the walls of our churches,” and requires a “going out.”

The archbishop added that “Our service to the poor and marginalized needs to be a clear witness to Jesus our Lord, not mistaken for humanist philanthropy.”

“In recent decades, however, there has been a tendency for Catholic charitable work to become separated from our primary calling to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is time to overcome that distinction.”

The pastoral letter outlined “concrete action steps” for implementing new evangelization in the Detroit archdiocese, including a re-examination of the appropriate age for Confirmation, improved marriage preparation, encouraging Eucharistic Adoration and Marian devotions at parishes, and ongoing formation at Sacred Heart Major Seminary.

Archbishop Vigneron concluded, writing that “I am firmly convinced that the graces bestowed upon the Church in Detroit in Synod 16 are a great spiritual treasure, riches which the Holy Spirit has poured out upon us for the monumental task that lies ahead.”

“With the help of God I will be a true and faithful steward of these gifts that are the common property of us all for the work that has been entrusted to us all.”

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U.S. NEWS

Watch as FOCUS consecrates its ministry to Jesus through Mary

by Kevin J. Jones (CNA/EWTN News) • June 13, 2017

The Virgin Mary. (Shutterstock)

Denver, CO — On June 13, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students will consecrate its mission to the Virgin Mary in perpetuity.

The perpetual consecration will be live-streamed on the organization’s Facebook page.

It will take place during Mass at the Oratory of Ave Maria University in Florida, where FOCUS will be holding its new staff training.

June 13 marks the centenary of the second Marian apparition at Fatima. In that vision, Fatima seer Sister Lucia said, the Virgin Mary told her, “Jesus wishes to make use of you to make me known and loved. He wants to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart.”

“It was the natural thing to do,” Curtis Martin, the organization’s founder and chief executive officer, told CNA. “We at FOCUS have always had a deep devotion to Our Lady.”

“Since its founding, FOCUS has attracted staff, missionaries and students who have a devotion to the Blessed Mother, which has been cultivated during their time with FOCUS. Marian devotion is simply part-and-parcel of being Catholic, so it is part-and-parcel of FOCUS.”

FOCUS, headquartered in Colorado, has grown to nearly 600 missionaries on 125 campuses since 1998.

“God has allowed our efforts to be fruitful, and we are seeking the grace for deeper sanctification of the individual missionary or staff member and the special blessing of their missionary work by petitioning Our Lady for assistance,” Martin said.

FOCUS plans to renew the consecration each year on June 13 and on December 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Martin said he wanted to make sure the organization does not see the consecration as a once-a-year event. Rather, FOCUS is encouraging its staff and missionaries to live the consecration throughout the year.

In 2016 the organization consecrated its efforts to Our Lady of Guadalupe for a year while discerning more deeply what the Virgin Mary and Christ desired.

“Ultimately, we discerned that Our Lady’s call at Fatima was still for our time and for us,” Martin said.

The prayers will consecrate FOCUS “to Jesus through Mary, petitioning especially the graces offered at Fatima and Guadalupe.”

Martin said the wording recognizes that the consecration ultimately is to Christ though his Mother.

“It also emphasizes our need for the totality of her help, while recognizing that FOCUS as an apostolate is especially in need of particular graces,” he added.

Martin sees Our Lady of Fatima as representing a focus on a missionary’s interior life, while Our Lady of Guadalupe represents a focus on the exterior life.

“Both are directed toward the same end: the salvation of souls through the fulfillment of the Great Commission to know Jesus Christ and make disciples of all nations,” he said.

He cited Our Lady of Fatima’s request to pray, especially the rosary and devotions to the Sacred Heart, as well as her encouragement to make sacrifices for souls. He said devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe is an opportunity to pray for spiritual fruitfulness, given her precedent of inspiring the conversion of 10 million people.

Martin said he has a particular devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, saying she “played an instrumental role in breathing new life into my dead faith.”

He said FOCUS reaches out to students “at a pivotal time in their lives” when they face the pressures of contemporary campus life.

“We share the gospel of Christ’s love, the truth of the Catholic faith and our very selves to help reach the world for Christ through our families, vocations and parishes,” he said.

An earlier version of this article was originally published May 9, 2017.

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U.S. NEWS

Bishops pray for Catholic Congressman shot at baseball practice

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • June 14, 2017

(CNA)

Washington D.C. — Republican House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, 51, was among multiple persons shot in an incident at a Congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, Wednesday morning.

Scalise, a Catholic, was shot at the hip and was transported to surgery. He is reportedly in stable condition.

“Prior to entering surgery, the Whip was in good spirits and spoke to his wife by phone,” Scalise’s office said in a statement. “He is grateful for the brave actions of U.S. Capitol Police, first responders, and colleagues.”

After hearing about the shooting, House Democrats at a separate baseball practice started a spontaneous prayer for the victims.

A total of five people were “medically transported” from the scene, according to authorities.

Shots were fired around 7:15 a.m. Wednesday morning while Republican lawmakers were practicing for Thursday’s Congressional Baseball Game.

U.S. Capitol Police shot and apprehended the gunman, who was taken to the hospital. Alexandria Police tweeted that the “suspect is in custody and not a threat.”

Congressman Scalise is a Republican who was elected to represent Louisiana in 2008. Before running for Congress, he had served in the Louisiana state senate for four months and in the Louisiana House of Representatives for 12 years.

He is married to the former Jennifer Letulle and they have an 8 year-old daughter, Madison Carol and an 8 year-old, Harrison Joseph.

Scalise is a life-long Catholic. He and his wife are members of the St. Agnes Catholic Church. Two years ago he tweeted a photo of his daughter’s first communion.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which started its Spring General Assembly this morning in Indianapolis, opened their conference with a prayer for the victims of the shooting as well as the victims of a massive apartment fire in London last night. USCCB Vice President Archbishop Jose Gomez gave the prayer, which was also posted to Twitter.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, D.C. also tweeted that he was praying for the congressman.

Bishop Michael F. Burbidge, head of the diocese of Arlington, Virginia released the following statement:

“I am profoundly saddened by the tragic shooting at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria earlier this morning. Today I call on the faithful in the Diocese of Arlington and all people of good will to join me in prayer for Rep. Steve Scalise and the others who were wounded in this senseless attack. May the Lord grant them swift healing and consolation. As we pray for God’s mercy, we also ask Mary, our Mother, to intercede for us, so that our world will know the peace of her Son.”

“Today as the Church invites us to begin a novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I ask Catholics of our diocese to pray the novena with a specific intention for peace,” he concluded.

Roughly 15-25 people were at the practice, including Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. Paul told MSNBC that “it would have been a massacre” if Capitol Police weren’t there.

Update 11:00 am Central: U.S. President Donald Trump has said the suspected gunman — identified by multiple law enforcement officials as James T. Hodgkinson III, 66, from Illinois — was killed in a shootout with police, two of whom were wounded in the gun battle.

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U.S. NEWS

U.S. bishops: Next synod must address disillusioned, indifferent youth

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • June 14, 2017

(Unsplash)

Indianapolis, IN — Next year’s synod, which will focus on young people, must address their most pressing problems, including indifference and disillusionment, U.S. bishops said at their annual meeting on Wednesday.

“The synod indeed comes at a critical time,” Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark told fellow U.S. bishops of the upcoming Synod on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment, to be held in 2018 at the Vatican.

Cardinal Tobin cited today’s pressing concerns, like the “rise of the Nones” – or young people with no religious affiliation. An “increased amount of disconnected Millennials is certainly a concern for us, as is the decline and delay of marriage among young people,” he added.

The U.S. bishops discussed the upcoming synod at their annual spring general assembly, held this year in Indianapolis from June 14-16.

Among the agenda items for the morning of June 14 was an address from Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, to the bishops, where he called for “missionary discipleship” in the Church to “go to the peripheries” of society.

Afterward, Cardinal Tobin, along with Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, led a discussion about the upcoming synod, an international gathering of bishops which will focus on “young people, the faith, and vocational discernment.”

“Through every phase of this Synod, the Church wants again to state her desire to encounter, accompany and care for every young person, without exception,” a preparatory document for the 2018 synod released in January stated.

“The Church cannot, nor does she wish to, abandon them to the isolation and exclusion to which the world exposes them,” the document added.

Both Archbishop Chaput and Cardinal Tobin exhorted their brother bishops to promote a survey of youth available online at youth.synod2018.va. It is intended for those between the ages of 16 and 29, both active Catholics and “indifferent” Catholics. The feedback of those working with youth – like youth ministers – is also vital, they insisted.

“This is a time to learn from youth and young adults,” Cardinal Tobin said. “They must have as much at stake in this as we do.”

According to a 2015 Pew Research report, 35 percent of those in the Millennial generation (born 1981-1996) were religious “Nones.”

However, there are also positive trends among young people, which include a high interest in the liturgical seasons of Advent and Lent, he added, and positive results of parish outreach ministries.

Other bishops weighed in on issues pertinent to young people.

Bishop Felipe Estevez of St. Augustine, Fla. said that the youth have been drawn to Eucharistic Adoration and have a “renewed appreciation for silence and desire for silence which manifests a thirst for spiritual life, for growth in the knowledge of the Lord.”

“We need to develop more the theology of gift,” he added, in a culture of “pragmatism” and “functionality.” Meditation on the gift in the Cross “needs to be internalized in the discernment of a vocation,” he said.

Many young people are struggling with racism prevalent in society and are “angry and disconnected from the political process,” Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento added.

The Church should think of “how to engage” these disaffected youth, who “feel in many cases disowned by the more traditional institutions and organizations that were important to their parents and grandparents,” he said.

Invitation needs to be a theme of evangelization at the synod, said Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for Military Services, USA. He insisted that active Catholics need to invite their peers to prayer and to the Mass.

Bishop Robert Barron, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles and founder of Word on Fire ministry, pointed to intellectual objections or challenges to the faith among many young baptized Catholics, like struggles with believing in God and perceived conflicts between religion and science.

The language of missionary discipleship and the sacraments is “opaque” to them, he said, insisting that “we have to clear the ground in a significant way” through a “new apologetics.”

The bishops must “think through this issue of addressing some of these real intellectual difficulties young people have before we can plant the seed of effective evangelization,” he said.

Dr. John Cavadini, a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame, started the discussion by addressing the bishops on the centrality of the sacrament of Baptism to vocational discernment.

In addition to being a theology professor at Notre Dame, Cavadini is also the director of the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the university, and previously served on the International Theological Commission from 2009, when he was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI, until 2014.

“We hear lots of exhortations for young people to change the world,” he noted, but “this can actually verge on secularizing the baptismal vocation” in making it “a vocation of the world.”

Rather, he said, discussion must emphasize the “mystery of the Church.”

“Meditating on the mystery of the Church” is not thinking about it as a charter or a constitution of some club, he insisted. Rather, it is about meditating on the “wounds of Christ from which His most previous blood flowed” which is the real birth of the Church.

“Meditating on one’s dwelling near, and even in, the wounds of Christ,” he said, brings about an “intimacy of love,” to which “one’s only response can be ‘Thank you, Lord, for this love.’”

Catholics should also see Christ’s example of “self-emptying love” which is reflected in the Church, Cavadini said.

“The one who loves the Church loves the love who had no contempt for anything human, but did not spare Himself,” he said, noting that Jesus reached out to sinners.

“He didn’t back away from that solidarity” even when the penalty for it was death, Cavadini said. Rather, He “received the blow, and so transfigured the whole of human solidarity” from “solidarity in sin” to solidarity “in His love.”

“The Church is the sacrament of that solidarity in the world,” he added, “a solidarity which the world cannot give itself, which does not come from the world” but is “for the world.”

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U.S. NEWS

Hartford archdiocese works to guide faithful through parish merger

CNA/EWTN News • June 15, 2017

A church steeple in Hartford, Connecticut. (Dan Hanscom via Shutterstock)

Hartford, CT — Important decisions loom ahead as the Archdiocese of Hartford preps its reorganization plan, a reconstruction and consolidation of parishes throughout much of Connecticut.

Under the new plan, 144 parishes in the archdiocese will be merged into 59 new parishes. Each new church community will be made up of two to six old parishes.

The reorganization, which will officially begin on June 29, will cut the number of parishes nearly in half, from 212 to 127.

Only 68 parishes will go untouched in the reorganization.

Saint Margaret of Scotland in Waterbury is the only church scheduled to be deconsecrated thus far, with no announcement from the archdiocese as to what will happen with the building itself. Additionally, 26 church buildings will close, and will not hold regularly scheduled Mass times.

The archdiocese has developed a 200-page manual to help ease the process, which includes 26 sections offering suggestions on the transition of employment, cemeteries, parish records, and a check list for merging parishes.

Questions have been raised about what to do with some of the items donated to specific churches. The manual mentions that any sacred objects, like tabernacles, monstrances, and chalices, are not to be become an individual’s property.

The manual suggests establishing sub-committees, with representatives from each merging parish, to aid the transition, including the turnover of objects and parish archives. Developing a strategic plan is also encouraged to help create a guiding mission statement, and an assessment of the risks and goals surrounding the transition.

Not only do the archdiocese’s guidelines map out programs to facilitate the physical changes, but they also offer personal and community-led prayers to help with anxiety and stress over the move.

The pastor of Saint Rosa Lima in New Haven is one of the over 40 priests who are being reassigned in the new project, and he has established a transitional team, creating an opportunity for prayer and dialogue to help prepare his parishioners for the adjustment.

Saint Rosa of Lima will be joined by Saint Francis Parish in New Haven, adding more people to the nearly 1,300 families already attending the church.

Father James Manship served as Saint Rosa of Lima’s pastor for 12 years, and, although he sees his parish as strong, he understands the upheaval is upsetting and uneasy.

“The parish has been such a foundational part of their life and for that to have to be morphed and changed from the outside, by the restructuring, is tough,” he told the Hartford Courant.

Other parishioners are excited about the transition. Members of St. Bridget’s and St. Bartholomew’s are joining together in the new St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish.

“We agree that now we are moving forward as a stronger community, with Mother Teresa as a patron, is so beautiful, that we can go forward and proclaim the gospel of the Lord. This is what our point [is] here,” Father Marcin Pluciennik, who had been pastor of Saint Bridget Parish, told the Hartford Courant.

Archbishop Leonard Blair of Hartford has said that the reorganization is not just for financial reasons or due to declining membership, but is also for a rejuvenation of the community’s spiritual life.

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U.S. NEWS

Pope’s U.S. representative reminds bishops to reach those on the margins

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • June 15, 2017

(Rui Duarte via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Indianapolis, IN — Pope Francis’ representative to the United States encouraged the nation’s bishops this week to promote solidarity and listen to those on the margins of society.

“Despite the various advances in technology and social communications, it seems that the mission of evangelization is stifled because often we only speak with those with whom we agree and do not listen enough to those at the margins of the Church and of society,” Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, told a gathering of the U.S. bishops on Wednesday.

True solidarity, he said, “demands recognizing the common, inherent human dignity of each person” like welcoming the migrant “fleeing persecution or ‘certain death,’ as is the case with so many migrants.”

The nuncio welcomed the bishops at their annual spring general assembly, held in Indianapolis on June 14-15.

At their meeting, the bishops discussed pressing issues like immigration, health care, and international religious persecution, as well as the upcoming synod on young people to be held in 2018.

Archbishop Pierre noted in his address that he has served as Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S. for a year, and that he has been “impressed with the faith of the people” in the midst of “an increasingly secular culture that values efficiency and productivity over spiritual values.”

He referenced the 2007 general conference of Latin American and Caribbean bishops which resulted in the concluding Aparecida document, where the bishops conceded that the culture was rapidly changing and secularizing and that they could not “passively and calmly wait in our church buildings.”

Likewise, Catholics in the U.S. cannot wait, but must be “missionaries” and go “to the margins of the Church and society” to listen to those at the peripheries, he said.

He commended the bishops for already doing this, giving examples of the Mass said at the U.S.-Mexico border, their presence at the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., and last November’s Mass at St. Peter Claver Church in West Baltimore, a historic African-American church near where the bishops gathered during their annual fall meeting.

That Mass “sent a powerful message in a time of racial tension that minorities will not be forgotten and that they enrich the whole Church,” he said.

Yet the bishops must continue reaching out to those on the “periphery” of society, including youth, who must be heard at the next synod on young people in 2018, the archbishop insisted. Yesterday, a survey was released on the Vatican website for the synod, reaching out specifically to youth between the ages of 16 and 29 to answer.

“I wish to encourage you to be proactive in ministering to our young people and in learning from them as you listen and evangelize,” the nuncio said.

He gave as an example of solidarity in action Latin American countries, which in recent years “have grown in fraternity” especially through “the collegial working of their bishops, giving rise to a true unity in diversity.”

“Why could the Church in the United States not generate positive results, in the Church and in the world, framing and influencing the direction of dialogue on the fundamental issues of our day?” Archbishop Pierre continued.

However, this solidarity between countries and persons is not “uniformity” that tramples on “the values and priorities of the people,” he insisted, as it rather opposes the “ideological colonization” that Pope Francis has warned of.

Rather, true solidarity can only be achieved “in the Truth, who is a person,” he said.

Earlier Wednesday morning, the bishops sent a greeting to Pope Francis where they mentioned his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in May.

“We pray the seeds sown on the common ground of life and religious freedom will bear much fruit,” they stated, while reaffirming their pledge to find “areas of good collaboration” with elected officials.

“Close to our hearts are the poor, families in need of health care and those immigrating to the United States in search of a safe and secure home,” they stated.

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U.S. NEWS

U.S. bishops vote to make religious freedom committee permanent

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • June 15, 2017

(Lars Hallstrom via Shutterstock)

Indianapolis, IN — The U.S. bishops voted on Thursday to make their Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty a permanent committee of the national bishops’ conference.

“The very idea of religious freedom and its root in human nature is challenged” today, said Archbishop Lori, chair of the ad hoc committee, at a meeting of the U.S. bishops Thursday.

He added, “how important it is that we remain in the public square through advocacy” for the freedom of religious institutions to fight poverty, provide health care and education, serve immigrants, and protect human life.

In 2011, the ad hoc committee was formed for a period of three years, as the “bishops were deeply concerned about a broad trend” of threats to religious freedom on the local and national level, Archbishop Lori noted, speaking at the annual spring general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Indianapolis.

Pope Benedict XVI, in his address to U.S. bishops in January of 2012 during their “ad limina” visit, warned of “grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism” where there were “certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion.”

“Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices,” the Pope said. “Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.

The U.S. bishops voted in 2014 to extend the committee for another three-year period. Then on Thursday, they voted to make the committee permanent by a vote of 132-53, with five bishops abstaining.

Most notably, the committee established the annual Fortnight for Freedom, a two-week campaign of prayer, penance, and advocacy for the Church’s continued freedom to serve in the public square, starting on June 21, the eve of the feasts of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, and ending on July 4, Independence Day.

One of the most notable threats the ad hoc committee warned of was the contraceptive mandate. The Department of Health and Human Services, interpreting the Affordable Care Act, had issued rules under the Obama administration that employer health plans had to cover sterilizations, contraceptives, and drugs that can cause abortions.

While churches and their immediate auxiliaries were exempt from the mandate, many religious institutions, including hospitals, universities, and charities, were not. Changes to the regulation offered by the Obama administration still violated the religious beliefs of the Catholic organizations, bishops and Church leaders contended.

In May, President Donald Trump promised regulatory relief from the mandate for religious non-profits like the Little Sisters of the Poor.

“The struggle against the HHS mandate is not over,” Archbishop Lori warned on Thursday. “Victory is not assured.”

The promised relief could change with another presidential administration who could again enforce the mandate against religious groups, the archbishop said.

And other threats to religious freedom persist, he said, like the legalization of same-sex marriage, which could pose problems for religious institutions that uphold the Church’s teaching on marriage.

The archbishop cited then-Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, who admitted during oral arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states, that there could be an issue with the tax-exempt status of religious universities teaching that marriage is between one man and one woman, if same-sex marriage were the law of the land.

Some bishops voiced their strong support for the committee on Thursday, including Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who chaired the USCCB when the committee was formed, and Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C. The most recent president of the USCCB, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, also supported making the committee permanent.

The bishops of the world “look to us,” Cardinal Dolan told his fellow bishops, “to be the real quarterbacks” in “defense of religious freedom.”

A few bishops voiced objections to making the committee permanent in the discussions before the vote on Thursday.

Several were concerned about how it would appear to make the religious liberty committee permanent at the same time that the bishops’ working group on immigration, begun in November, finished its formal work.

However, Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, vice president of the conference, clarified later on Thursday at an afternoon press conference that the working group “will continue,” although Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston-Galveston, president of the conference who had begun the working group last November, had not specified a timeline for how long it would continue.

Furthermore, Archbishop Lori stressed, the conference already has a standing Committee on Migration. “The important thing is that as the sun sets, there’s a permanent committee in place, because we understand the questions of migration are permanent,” he said.

Bishop Christopher Coyne of Burlington, Vt. also voiced concerns that funding for the religious freedom committee could eventually dry up, while Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark said that domestic religious freedom concerns “can be handled by the domestic policy committee,” referring to the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

“I am not convinced that there is a need at this time for it,” he said of the religious freedom committee.

Bishop Francis Kalabat of the Chaldean Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle in Detroit strongly supported extending the committee, however.

There are “currently 60 million refugees in the world,” he said. “What percentage of them came as a result of a lack of religious freedom?”

“Who you back up, or who backs you up, is who gives you the strength” in the Middle East, he said, noting that if the U.S. shows strong support for religious freedom, it also shows support for persecuted Christians elsewhere.

Religious freedom, Archbishop Lori stressed, covers “a wide spectrum of ministries, a wide spectrum of advocacy,” and there is need for “some consistency for a clearing house and a clear voice.”

“Religious liberty is a concept that really relates to one’s fundamental stance towards God,” he said, “that first and primal relationship towards God.” As Dignitatis Humanae states, he noted, religious freedom is “rooted in human nature” and “granted by God as a fundamental human endowment.

On Thursday, the bishops also voted to approve new guidelines for the celebration of the sacraments of persons with disabilities.

The new guidelines were said to pay deeper attention to allergy problems, for example the gluten intolerance or alcohol intolerance of a communicant. They encouraged parishes to be more aware and accommodating of persons with disabilities in the distribution of the sacraments.

Archbishop Kurtz tweeted on Thursday that the National Catholic Partners on Disability were “excited” about the revised guidelines.

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FEATURES

Behold, Catholic beard balm (Yes, it’s a thing)

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • June 9, 2017

(Jinga via Shutterstock)

Seattle, WA — What do you do with an excess of chrism and a plethora of Catholic men with beards?

Tony Vasinda, a director of faith formation at a Catholic parish in Seattle, Wash., was faced with that dilemma three years ago when he ordered some of the fragrant, liturgical oil for his confirmation students.

“I love it when people can actually engage with the materials of the sacrament in advance, so I wanted to have some non-blessed chrism we could use for the candidates to smell and help cement in their memory the different lessons we were teaching,” Vasinda told CNA.

When he went to order essence of chrism, Vasinda only needed an ounce. But the minimum amount he could order was enough to make three gallons.

“So I had a little bit of an excess of chrism,” he joked.

Around that same time, Vasinda had been making beard balms for himself and his bearded friends, and he had an idea for what to do with his surplus.

“I thought hey, wouldn’t it be funny if I made some chrism-scented Catholic beard balm?”

That’s how Catholic Beard Balm got its start. Vasinda, and his friend and fellow Catholic beard balm creator Michael Marchand, soon started selling their handmade, natural balms in small batches with five signature scents. According to the website the balm has a myriad of beardly benefits including conditioning, nourishing, and promoting a fuller appearance.

And the great thing is, all the proceeds benefit Tony and Michael’s ministry, ProjectYM, a resource hub for Catholic youth ministers.

Tony and Michael sat down to chat with CNA about all things follicular and fragrant:

CNA: How did you recognize that Catholic beard balm would even have a market?

Tony: We had a conference coming up, and I thought we could take it there and sell it to other Catholic Youth ministers. We knew a lot of those guys have beards. … So that was kind of how it started.

Michael: It’s funny, Tony brought like one hundred beard balms to that event, and we all kind of laughed at him and said there’s no way we’re gonna sell those, there’s no way people will buy those. And within a matter of hours, we sold all of them. So it was sort of like oh wait a minute, there is a market for this.

CNA: What’s up with Catholic guys and beards? So many Catholic guys I know have a beard going right now.

Tony: I don’t think it’s a new thing, I think the real question is kind of like, what’s up with the lack of facial hair? That was really the change that happened at some point in the last couple hundred years – men stopped growing beards.

(Beards are) kind of a unique signifier of manliness. There’s not a lot that men get to do that show off our masculinity in a way that’s easy for us to do in our daily life. Like I have zero desire to go chop down a tree and cut it up into lumber, I’m not working in a coal mine. So there’s a little bit of it that comes down to a desire to display our masculinity in a way that’s appropriate for who we are today. Plus beards are just awesome and they look great.

Michael: I started mine because I was lazy and my wife somewhere along the road told me hey, you either need to grow it out all the way or you need to shave it. There was no larger plan in my mind.

Tony: There was always a larger plan in my mind. I always wanted my beard to be larger and larger.

CNA: Tell me about the different scents your balms have.

Tony: We have five different aromas, the original three were chrism, Franciscan, which is the unscented, natural ingredients, it’s a nod to the simplicity of Francis and the Franciscan community and their close connection with God’s creation.

The next one was Lectio, which was supposed to be evocative of the sweet smell of old books or old bibles, so it’s got amber, vanilla, and sandalwood in it.

We’ve got Holy Smokes, which is the incense one, so that’s frankincense, a little bit of myrrh and a touch of woodsmoke. I actually had somebody the other day who was wearing it on their beard and their pastor was like, did we get the good incense? But it was because the beard balm smelled better than the incense they normally buy.

We also did one that’s kind of (a nod) to Chesterton that is called Orthodoxy, that is pipe tobacco and hops, it’s a lighter scent but it smells really good.

CNA: Who are your favorite bearded saints?

Michael: I’m a big John the Baptist fan, he’s kind of a throwback. He was willing to be radical and out there, I think he’s probably top on my list.

I’m also a big fan of Cyril and Methodius, I’m somebody who really values evangelization, and I think St. Cyril and Methodius are perfect examples of that mission.

Tony: It’s hard to choose, but St. John Chrysostom, I knew he had a beard but his statement on fasting particularly is a modern concept that most Catholics understand very poorly. He has this (reflection) on fasting and not just fasting from food or meat but fasting from sin, really taking the time to remove sin from our life in an intentional way.

Padre Pio – amazing beard, amazing saint. Such a surprising saint I think for young people to hear about.

And then St. Max Kolbe is another one that I think is phenomenal, he grew his beard so that he could gain more respect in the culture that he was trying to minister to, and as soon as the Nazi’s came to attack he knew his beard would offend them, but he knew his habit would offend them more, so he offered to sacrifice his beard because he wasn’t going to sacrifice his commitment to God.

CNA: What has the overall response to Catholic Beard Balm been like?

Tony: It’s really been a cool extension of the New Evangelization. It’s fun how oftentimes humor and mirth lead us into that place of evangelizing in a way that the culture responds to.

Michael: One of the things I think that surprised us I think initially and going into Lent was how strong the devotion is of men through their beard. It’s part of who they are, so the fact that they can identify with other Catholic men through something they share I think has been really cool.

I think sometimes it gets dismissed as being superficial, but I think it’s really interesting that an attribute of their masculinity, an attribute of who they are is something that they can connect with other men through that.

CNA: Do have other products besides the beard balm?

Tony: We had a lot of women who were really upset that we didn’t have any products for women, so we made Little Flower lip balm. We have three handmade lip balms that are rose, citrus or peppermint flavored, and we use really high quality essential oils in those, and we try to avoid anything that’s not a natural ingredient wherever we can.

We’re launching our third product line – I would say it’s more geared towards women, but it could work for men as well, just like beard balm could work on a woman’s beard as well.

We’re selling a lotion bar called Lumina, my wife came up with the idea, in honor of st. Philomena, just like the Little Flower in honor of St. Therese, and four different aromas for that. And then also soap.

CNA: Anything else you’d like to add?

Michael: Our heart for ministry trumps our desire for beard balm to be successful, so we love that beard balm has been so successful because it empowers and enables the ministry that we’re doing.

Tony: The dialogues we get to have online with people has been amazing – I got to explain the difference between adult and infant baptism through Catholic Balm Company on Facebook, so there’s a lot of really big things that come into it.

A lot of people don’t know that we’re an authentically Catholic company run by guys who have a real passion for ministry, but we’re not just making money, we’re excited about all the ways it’s allowed us to do more.

This article was originally published on CNA Feb. 28, 2016.

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FEATURES

Lithuania’s first Soviet-era martyr to be beatified

CNA/EWTN News • June 13, 2017

Venerable Teofilius Matulionis, who was martyred Aug. 20, 1962 and who will be beatified June 25, 2017. (CNA)

Vilnius, Lithuania — A Soviet-era priest and bishop who continually defied communist rule and spent much of his ministry in prison will be beatified later this month in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.

Archbishop Teofilius Matulionis was declared a martyr by Pope Francis Dec. 16, clearing the way for his beatification.

Archbishop Matulionis was known for his heroism and determination in faith in the midst of the harsh atheism of the Soviet regimes which ruled the countries in which he served.

Born in Kudori_kis, in what is now Lithuania, in 1873, Archbishop Matulionis was the second son of a farming family, and seemed to be drawn to the religious life from an early age.

In 1900 he was ordained a priest in what is now Belarus, where his zeal for the faith immediately raised the suspicions of the authorities of the Russian Empire, which was closely aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 1909, he was sentenced by a court for baptizing a child from a mixed Orthodox and Catholic family, a sentence he served in a Dominican convent.

In 1917, he witnessed the violent persecution of the Church under the Bolshevik Revolution. And in 1923, he was sentenced to three years in Moscow prisons for refusing to sign an act on the appropriation of church property and buildings.

Released a year ahead of time and allowed to return to Lithuania, the priest chose instead to go back to his parish in St. Petersburg, where he was secretly ordained a bishop in 1929.

Soviet trouble never far behind, the bishop found himself in prison again in 1929, where this time he was subjected to solitary confinement, and then to hard labor and malnourishment, which took its toll on his health. He was eventually released in an exchange of prisoners between Lithuania and the Soviet Union in 1933.

Upon his release, Bishop Teofilius paid a visit to Pius XI, who praised his heroism. When Teofilius knelt down in front of the Pope, the Holy Father had the bishop stand and instead knelt down himself, saying: “You are a martyr! You must bless me first!”

During the visit of a group of Lithuanian pilgrims to Rome in 1936 Pius XI again praised Bishop Teofilius: “Glory be to the Lithuanian nation that gave us a hero like him!”

In 1943 he was appointed Bishop of Kai_iadorys.

While he was free, Bishop Teofilius traveled to the United States of America, Rome, the Holy Land, and the Sinai Peninsula.

Afterwards he returned to Kaunas, Lithuania, where, despite Soviet and Nazi threats, the bishop spoke out boldly against the regimes, their destruction of churches, and religious persecution. This led, again, to his arrest in 1946.

Ten years later, the depleted but not defeated bishop came to Bir_tonas, where he secretly ordained another bishop, and was subsequently punished for his actions by being sent to _eduva, where his communications were tapped and his room regularly searched by Soviet authorities.

In 1962, he received notice from Rome that he had been made an archbishop and that he was invited to participate in the Second Vatican Council, but he would ultimately be unable to attend. During a “search,” the archbishop was given a lethal injection under the pretense of sedatives, and died three days later, Aug. 20, 1962.

He is remembered for his courage and faith despite the hardships that he endured. During one of his many times in prison, the priest wrote: “Just think how good and merciful the Lord is: He finds His flock in the woods, in the tundra, at midnight … I am thankful to Him with all my heart! Providence made sure that we, priest brethren, be sent where the believers are. Pastors follow their flock.”

In 1957, rumors were spreading that the 84 year-old bishop would be imprisoned again, to which Bishop Matulionis responded: “If I were passing by some bushes and someone suddenly jumped in front of me and said ‘Boo,’ I might be frightened … But I’m not at all scared at the idea that they can arrest and imprison me.”

Archbishop Teofilius Matulionis will be beatified in the Cathedral Square in Vilnius June 25 by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

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FEATURES

Looking at Luther with fresh eyes

by Bishop Robert Barron • June 13, 2017

With great profit and pleasure I’m currently reading Alec Ryrie’s new book Protestants: The Faith that Made the Modern World. Among the many texts appearing in this year of the five hundredth anniversary of the Reformation, Ryrie’s stands out for its verve, clarity, and historical sweep. In some ways, it is an answer to Brad Gregory’s The Unintended Reformation, though it lacks the intellectual depth and thoroughness of Gregory’s magisterial study.

What has so far intrigued me most of all in Ryrie’s book is his portrait of the undisputed father of the Reformation, Martin Luther. I will confess to a certain fascination with Luther. I have been reading his books, speeches, and sermons for many years, and for about ten years, when I was professor of theology at Mundelein Seminary, I taught a graduate level course in the Christian theology of the sixteenth century, which included, naturally, lots of Luther. Cantankerous, pious, very funny, shockingly anti-Semitic, deeply insightful, and utterly exasperating, Luther was one of the most beguiling personalities of his time. And say what you want about his writings (I disagree with lots and lots of his ideas), they crackle with life and intensity, even in Latin! Though I’ve read and thought and talked about the founder of Protestantism for a long time, Ryrie has prompted me to squint at him in a fresh way.

It is obvious to everyone, Ryrie argues, that Luther was a fighter, taking on not only fellow intellectuals, but the curia, the Pope, and the Emperor himself. And it is equally clear that he bequeathed this feistiness to his followers over these past five centuries: Zwingli, Calvin, Wilberforce, Lloyd Garrison, Billy Sunday, Karl Barth, etc. There is always something protesting about Protestantism. But to see this dimension alone is to miss the heart of the matter. For at the core of Luther’s life and theology was an overwhelming experience of grace. After years of trying in vain to please God through heroic moral and spiritual effort, Luther realized that, despite his unworthiness, he was loved by a God who had died to save him. In the famous Turmerlebnis (Tower Experience) in the Augustinian monastery in Wittenberg, Luther felt justified through the sheer mercy of God. Though many others before him had sensed this amazing grace, Luther’s passion, in Ryrie’s words, “had a reckless extravagance that set it apart and which has echoed down Protestant history.” It is easy enough to see this ecstatic element in any number of prominent Protestant figures, from John Wesley to Friedrich Schleiermacher to John Newton. Luther was an ecstatic, and the religious movement he launched was “a love affair.”

This is why I say Ryrie has caused me to look at Luther in a new light. One of the standard matrices for understanding religion is the distinction between the mystical and the prophetic, or between the experiential and the rational. On the standard reading, Luther would fall clearly on the latter side of this divide. He is, it would seem, the theologian of the word par excellence. And indeed, we can find throughout his writings many critiques of priestcraft, sacramentalism, and what he called Schwarmerei or pious enthusiasm. Nevertheless, if Ryrie is right, this is to get only part, indeed a small part, of the story. At bottom, Luther was a mystic of grace, someone who had fallen completely in love — which helps enormously to explain what makes his theological ideas both so fascinating and so frustrating. People in love do and say extravagant things. So overwhelmed are they by the experience of the beloved that they are given to words such as “only” and “never” and “forever.” If you doubt me, read any of the great romantic poets, or for that matter, listen to a teenager speak about his first crush. After a lifetime of scrupulosity and interior struggle, Luther sensed the breakthrough of the divine grace through the mediation of the Bible. Hence, are we surprised that he would express his ecstasy in exaggerated, over the top language: “By grace alone! By faith alone! By the Scriptures alone!”

I think here of a distant spiritual descendent of Martin Luther, the Nobel laureate Bob Dylan. After his conversion to evangelical Christianity, Dylan wrote a lovely song called Saving Grace, which includes the lines, “I look around this old world/ And all that I’m finding/ Is the saving grace that’s over me.” Mind you, this is the same Dylan who, just a few years earlier, had sung of “guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children” and who had pulled the masks off of “masters of war” and who had complained of “Desolation Row.” But now — and this is the mark of the ecstatic — all that he sees is saving grace. In a more Catholic expression of the same experience, Georges Bernanos’s country priest could cry, “Toute est grace!” (Everything is grace!).

Beautiful? Poetically expressive? Spiritually evocative? Yes! But does it stand up to strict rational scrutiny? Of course not. What Ryrie’s characterization of Luther has helped me to see is how the great Solas of the Reformation can be both celebrated and legitimately criticized. Was Luther right to express his ecstatic experience of the divine love in just this distinctive way? And was, say, the Council of Trent right in offering a sharp theological corrective to Luther’s manner of formulating the relationship between faith and works and between the Bible and reason? I realize that it might annoy both my Catholic and Protestant friends even to pose the issue this way, but would answering “yes” to both those question perhaps show a way forward in the ecumenical conversation?

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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FEATURES

St. Anthony of Padua considered ‘all the world as his home’

by Simone Baroncia (CNA/EWTN News) • June 13, 2017

Saint Anthony of Padua by El Greco, c. 1580. (CNA)

Padua, Italy — As the Church celebrates St. Anthony of Padua, his widespread popularity can be traced to his efforts at reaching out as a neighbor to all peoples, according to the rector of the basilica where the saint’s body rests.

“The devotion to the Saint of the Peoples is truly universal perhaps because he himself desired to consider all the world his as his home,” Father Oliviero Svanera, rector of the Basilica of St. Anthony of Padua, told CNA.

“He was Portuguese by birth, he went to Morocco to spread the faith, he landed in Sicily by shipwreck, then he went back up the Italian peninsula all the way to Assisi and joined the friars of St. Francis, who sent him all the way to France.

Once St. Athony returned to Italy he was appointed provincial superior and served in Padua, where he died in 1231.

“It is told that he would speak one language made of a thousand accents but which was understandable to all,” Fr. Svanera said. “As such, he was a neighbor to all: to the poor, to people in difficulty, to the sick. In this, his being ‘brother of all,’ is perhaps his universality, something that renders him a friend of all the peoples of the world, beyond nationality, culture, and even religions, given that St. Anthony is respected even by those who do not profess the Catholic faith.”

St. Anthony was born as Fernando Martins in Lisbon around 1195, and when he was 15 entered the Abbey of St. Vincent with the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, and he was ordained a priest.

In 1220 he was moved by seeing the relics of five Franciscan missionaries who had been martyred in Morocco. He was allowed to leave the Augustinians to join the Order of Friars Minor, where he took the name Anthony. He worked as a preacher and laid the foundations of Franciscan theology.

He was canonized in 1232, only a year after his death, by Gregory IX, who had heard him preach and called him the “Ark of the Testament.”

It was also in 1232 that construction of the basilica which houses St. Anthony’s body was begun. It was finished at the beginning of the 14th century.

Please find below more from CNA’s interview with Fr. Svanera, rector of the basilica:

CNA: For the feast day, there exists the famous Tredicina in honor of the saint: What does this consist of?

Fr. Svanera: By the word “Tredicina” is meant the thirteen days of meditation and spiritual preparation for the solemnity of the saint, that is, from May 31 to June 13. Every day those devoted to St. Anthony invoke the intercession of the saint through a particular prayer, the Tredicina to Saint Anthony specifically, to entrust themselves to the mercy of God the Father. These are the days in which the basilica becomes the goal of pilgrims, both individuals and those organized in groups, and our sanctuary becomes truly universal, as in these days of veneration and prayer there are tens of thousands of pilgrims who come here from every country of the world.

CNA: Another tradition is the “Bread of St. Anthony.” What is the significance of this tradition?

Fr. Svanera: In a word, the “Bread of St. Anthony” is synonymous with charity. The birth of this tradition has its roots in one of the “miracles” of the saint, that of Tommasino, a baby of twenty months who drowned in a washtub. The desperate mother invoked the help of the saint and made a vow: If she would obtain this grace, she would give to the poor the child’s weight in bread. And the little one returned miraculously to life. This miracle has given origin to two Antonian works in faithfulness to the spirit of St. Anthony: Firstly, l’Opera Pane dei Poveri (the Bread Work of the Poor), the Antonian organization which in Padua works to bring bread, and other necessities to people in difficulty, and next the Caritas Antoniana Onlus (Antonian Charity not-for-profit), the body of friars of the saint who in 2016 supported 124 development projects in 40 countries of the world, for a total of €2.64 million ($2.96 million).

CNA: St. Anthony was a great preacher who practiced charity: What can this teach us about a “Church that goes forth?”

Fr. Svanera: The gospel and charity are the two hinges of the lesson from St. Anthony. His preaching was always capable of provoking the heart of everyone. And this too is thanks to his exemplary life and his humility, which he learned from Most Holy Mary, to whom he was profoundly devoted. St. Anthony proclaimed the gospel which conquers the temptation of power, the temptation of pride, the temptation, Pope Francis would say today, of worldliness, of how much worldliness there is and which brings us to act out life as in a play, or to want to give an appearance. Through his love, St. Anthony knew to stoop for the other (refugee, migrant, unemployed, alone, sick, imprisoned, marginalized, poor) and to take care of him. We will thus be effective Christians of a Church which goes forth if, like St. Anthony, we manage to go forth from ourselves to preach Christ crucified, following him with a style of humility, of true humility, a humility full of love.

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Monks of Norcia announce special edition beer to help them rebuild

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • June 14, 2017

The monks of Norcia sing from their 2015 album, Benedicta: Marian Chant for Norcia. (Christopher McLallen/de Montfort Music)

Norcia, Italy — It was God and beer sales that helped sustain the Benedictine monks of Norcia, and it is God and beer sales that will help them rebuild.

Last year, in August and again in October, strong earthquakes rocked the town of Norcia, Italy, killing hundreds of people and destroying the 14th century Basilica of St. Benedict, where the monks of Norcia dwelt.

Miraculously, their brewery, where they produce Birra Nursia, was mostly left intact.

The monks were forced to dwell in tents and cabins through a particularly cold Italian winter while they began rebuilding a new, earthquake-proof monastery in San Benedetto in Monte, just outside the walls of Norcia.

Now, the monks have announced a special project that will help them rebuild: Leffe, a Belgian brewery, has agreed to partner with the monks for a special edition brew, the proceeds of which will go directly to the monks’ new monastery.

“Leffe beer, one of the most highly prized beers of Belgium and brewed in the monastic tradition, launched a special limited-edition brew with Birra Nursia, our own beer, as a joint label with Leffe Blonde,” the monks announced online.

“While the two beers, Leffe and Birra Nursia, remain distinct, the Nursia name on the Leffe Blonde bottle signifies the shared commitment of the two breweries: to rebuild Norcia and bring hope to the tragedy-stricken region.”

The 100,000 bottles of the special edition brew will only be available for distribution in Italy, and will directly fund the new wooden chapel, “which is not just for the monks, but is open to all those thirsting after God,” the monks noted.

Leffe beer itself has monastic roots. Norbertine canons of the Leffe abbey had been brewing beer in the town for centuries, until the French revolution resulted in the abandonment and destruction of the brewery. In the 1950s, determined not to let the brewing tradition die, the abbey’s Father Abbot Nys met master brewer Albert Lootvoet, and an agreement was struck.

Shortly after, the Leffe brewery was back in full effect, today under the ownership of Anheuser-Busch InBev. Some of the proceeds of the beer still support the Leffe monastery.

For the Norcia monks, the wooden chapel is the first phase of a full reconstruction for the abbey. While it will be officially inaugurated in September, the monks already held a Mass of thanksgiving in the chapel on Pentecost, despite an unfinished roof.

“In this way, we remember: Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum in vanum laboraverunt qui aedificant eum,” the monks said: “Unless the Lord builds the house, in vain do the laborers build it.”

The monks said the whole experience has been a reminder that “in moments of tragedy when all seems lost, God calls us to trust that somewhere, somehow, good can come from it.

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What can priests practically do to combat the porn epidemic?

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • June 14, 2017

(Unsplash)

Washington D.C. — Online pornography is one of the fastest growing addictions in the United States, on par with cocaine and gambling.

Once confined to the pages of a smuggled Playboy magazine, pornography can now be in the hands of anyone with a smartphone, and is more prolific and anonymous than ever.

PornHub, one of the world’s largest sites with porn video streaming, reports that it averages 75 million viewers per day, or about 2.4 million visitors per hour. In 2015 alone, the number of hours streamed from the site was double the amount of time human beings have populated the Earth, according to TIME Magazine.

And while pornography used to be a simpler problem for priests to address in the confessional – consecrate yourself to Mary, go to weekly adoration – the growing level of addiction makes it a much more complex problem for the Church to address.

That’s why Fr. Sean Kilcawley, the program directory and theological advisor for pornography ministry Integrity Restored, has started to put on intensive trainings for clergy, providing them resources and practical tips for how to address the growing crisis of pornography addiction.

How the trainings work

For an intensive training, Fr. Kilcawley takes a dozen or so priests for 3-4 days and immerses them in resources and training for the porn-addicted in their fold. He also facilitates shorter, one-day conferences.

“We try to equip the priest to get that person to come talk to them outside of confession, just to bring that into the light, so that the priest can then become the first responder in the field hospital of the church,” Fr. Kilcawley told CNA.

Smaller groups work best, he added, because it allows the priests space to process the information and to be more vulnerable with one another.

During these trainings, Fr. Kilcawley tackles the subject from an anthropological and theological standpoint, while Dr. Todd Bowman, a Christian psychologist and director of the SATP Institute, addresses the issue from a psychological viewpoint.

Modeling the relationship between a priest and a sex therapist during the trainings is key, Dr. Bowman said.

“I know that sounds like the start of a joke: a priest and a psychologist walk into a conference,” Dr. Bowman told CNA.

“But (it’s important) to demonstrate this relationship between soul care and care of the psyche or the mind, this process of healing often requires psychological care,” he said.

“So we’re trying to give priests the experience that not all psychologists are anti-church, or anti-Catholic. At the same time, not all Christian or Catholic therapists are equipped and qualified for this, so we’re trying to … (show them how to be) intentional in selecting therapists who will honor church teaching but who will also have the competence to do this work well with porn or sex addiction.”

Preventative action: Stopping porn addictions before they start

Practical things priests can do to address pornography addiction generally fall into two categories: preventative and interventional, Fr. Kilcawley noted.

One of the key things a priest can do to stop pornography addictions is to ensure that the parents of the parish are being provided with education and resources they need for pornography prevention in the home.

“We’ve always said that it’s the parent’s job to educate their children, but as a Church we haven’t done a great job teaching the parents how to educate their children,” Fr. Kilcawley said.

“And we now live in a world where it’s no longer optional to have those conversations.”

No longer optional, because studies show the average age of first exposure to pornography is 8 years old – and any kid with access to a phone or a tablet could accidentally stumble upon pornography, he said.

One thing he recommends is that parishes hold mandatory meetings for parents of children who are either receiving the sacraments or religious education at the parish, where they can give parents an overview of Theology of the Body, as well as tips and resources for internet safety and how to address pornography.

It can be especially difficult to know how to talk about such a mature topic with such a young age group. However, several books have been written in the past several years to help parents know where to begin, Fr. Kilcawley said, and some parishes hand them out during meetings with parents.

One of his recommendations is “Good Pictures Bad Pictures,” a read-aloud picture book that helps parents address the issue with very young children.

Starting at the 4th grade level, Fr. Kilcawley recommends the book “Wonderfully Made! Babies” which puts the content within the context of theology of the body and the sacrament of marriage.

For the junior high and high school level, he recommends “Plunging Pornography,” a book to leave in the bathroom for teens to find that can serve as a conversation starter.

Fr. Kilcawley said in some parishes, groups like the Knights of Columbus have paid for some of these books to be handed out to every parent.

He also recommends internet filters like Covenant Eyes, which sponsors a special service for parents, parishes and schools.

Interventional: What to do about those who are already addicted

Probably the most common place a priest will first find out about a pornography addiction is in the confessional.

When someone confesses viewing porn, Fr. Kilcawley said one of the best things a priest can do is to ask a few guiding questions to help them make a good confession.

“Ask questions like, ‘How frequently do you fall into porn and masturbation in general?’” Fr. Kilcawley said. The question is not meant to pry – it helps determine whether the person needs additional help.

It’s also helpful to ask when the problem started.

“If it started before puberty, which is most common now, almost everyone who started before puberty is going to need extra help stopping, they might need counseling or group support, and spiritual direction,” Father said.

A third question to ask would be if they’ve tried to remove porn from their life – are they already using filtering software? Are they seeing a therapist or going to a 12-step group?

And then finally, Fr. Kilcawley advised priests in the confessional, ask them if they want to stop.

“Just to help them make a good firm purpose of amendment,” he said, adding that when they answer yes, that’s a good opportunity to offer them more resources.

But it’s important that the help be personal. Simply handing the person a flyer and telling them to call a therapist or a group typically doesn’t work, Father noted. It should either be the priest, or someone involved in that specific ministry at the parish, who is the first point of contact for that person, and can help them get in touch with additional resources.

Another thing priests can do is start a porn or sex addict support group in their parish. Fr. Kilcawley said he started one in his office once a week, with a small group of men who were all struggling with porn addictions.

“Most people who are stuck in addiction, they need a support group, whether it’s a 12-step group like Sexaholics Anonymous or a spiritual support group, where they are open and vulnerable and accountable about their lives. They need that, plus a counselor, plus a spiritual director that they’re working with regularly,” he said.

Thou shalt not: The don’ts of porn ministry

A mistake often made by untrained clergy in pornography addiction ministry is that they may suggest, explicitly or implicitly, that a pornography addiction is the fault of the spouse.

“It’s not the spouse’s lack of sexual interest that’s to blame for her husband’s sexual addiction,” Dr. Bowman said. Addicted persons will often try “blame shifting,” he added, which creates “a spiritual crisis that compounds the betrayal trauma” of the spouse.

The next mistake clergy could make would be to minimize the impact of the addiction on the spouse. Most people who find out their spouse has a sex addiction will experience varying levels of feelings of betrayal, Dr. Bowman said.

“There’s significant trauma in that loss of identity – but the Church can speak about identity as sons and daughters of God into that space,” he added. It’s when identity is only being informed by brokenness that bigger problems arise.

Another mistake would be to abandon those in recovery. If a priest commits to setting up support groups in his parish, he needs to follow through, Dr. Bowman said.

“If you are setting yourself up as a support that means take the phone call, schedule the meeting, even if it’s inconvenient, you’re going that measure and not abandoning folks in recovery,” he said.

Not a fringe ministry – this is evangelization 101

The biggest cardinal mistake that clergy can make in regards to pornography addiction ministry is never mentioning it, Dr. Bowman said.

It’s usually a more “omissive than commissive” problem, he commented. “It’s not like (clergy) are actively avoiding talking about this, but they may think, ‘My parishioners don’t want to hear about this, there are other things that are more relevant and important.’

But, according to Dr. Bowman, “There may be no more pressing topic for parishioners and priests alike … the only mistake would be not to bring it up.”

It may be helpful for priests to view this as part of evangelization, and not as a fringe ministry, Fr. Kilcawley said, because very likely, someone who is stuck in addiction is unable to have a good relationship with the Lord.

“Most people who are stuck in addiction believe they’re unlovable, and that if people really knew them they would reject them, and they don’t trust other people to meet their needs and so they have to meet their own needs, and their addiction is the best way to meet their need,” he said. “So if someone has those core beliefs, they can’t really know our Lord.”

“So anti-pornography work and anti-porn apostolates, they’re really the first stage of evangelization.”

Both Dr. Bowman and Fr. Kilcawley said they hope that increasingly, priests become aware of the urgent need to reach pornography addicts in their pews.

“We live in a culture where statistically, about half of Christians report looking at porn at least monthly,” Fr. Kilcawley said.

“So if that’s the case then, yeah we need a lot more (pornography ministry). It’s not a ministry for a few people, it’s more of a ministry for everyone.”

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Saving ancient Christian cultures, one story at a time

by Adelaide Mena (CNA/EWTN News) • June 16, 2017

Documents from a Catholic University of America research trip to Urmia, Van, and Mosul. (Catholic University of America)

Washington D.C. — Ancient artifacts. Centuries-old legends. Prayers dating back to the time of Christ. An enemy seeking to destroy it all. And a team of dedicated scholars trying to save the memories before it’s too late.

It may sound like the start of the next Indiana Jones movie, but for the team behind the Christian Communities of the East Cultural Heritage Project, the reality of Christian communities disappearing from the Middle East is a pressing threat.

Faced with persecution at the hands of ISIS, more than a decade of war, and generations of economic struggle, these researchers are looking to record the memories and traditions of the Christian communities of Iraq before they are lost forever.

But instead of swinging through empty tombs or digging through rubble, these scholars are asking the community members themselves to engage in the rich Middle Eastern tradition of storytelling, sharing their memories and descriptions in their own native Arabic and Neo-Aramaic languages – some of them singing and speaking the same language Christ himself did.

Dr. Shawqi Talia, a lecturer on Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures at The Catholic University of America explained that his colleagues’ quest to preserve the history and culture of Iraqi Catholics is essential for passing on their meaning, not only to the next generation, but for the world.

Talia, himself an Iraqi Chaldean Catholic, told CNA that he wants young people “to know how life was and what life was all about for the Christians – not just up north but in Iraq as a whole – in the ‘50s and the ‘40s and the ‘30s, and to know that our history goes back for 2,000 years.”

Yet as Christians from the Nineveh plain continue to leave their homeland due to threats of violence, Talia hopes Middle Eastern Christians in diaspora will see the stories, songs, histories and memories contained in the project not only as a record, but as a tool. He wants Middle Eastern youth to “work in order to keep this kind of heritage alive, not just for the Christians from that part of the world who are now living in diaspora, but because it’s the history of humanity – for all of us.”

This history is not just for the Christian communities of the Middle East, but for all Christians and the whole world to learn from and preserve – especially as the ancestral lands continue to be embroiled in conflict. “You can read something in a history text, but now you see it, and you hear it in person,” Talia said of the recorded interviews.

Preserving the past

The idea behind Christian Communities of the East Cultural Heritage Project – a joint partnership between the Institute of Christian Oriental Research and the School of Theology and Religious Studies at The Catholic University of America – was born over the course of years of conversations between Dr. Talia and Dr. Robin Darling Young, an associate professor of spirituality in the university.

“The reason that we started this project was that we wanted to put together materials that would make available to other people and to communities themselves records of various kinds of the life of Christian communities in the Middle East,” Darling Young told CNA.

Attacks by ISIS against Christian and other minority religious communities in northern Iraq heightened the sense of urgency in preserving this culture’s heritage and history.

Since 2003, violence in Iraq and Syria has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions more, including whole communities of Middle Eastern Christians. In the past 14 years, an estimated 1 million Christians have left their communities in Iraq, leaving less than 500,000 Christians in the lands inhabited by the faithful for 2,000 years.

To begin preserving their history before it completely vanishes, the group used Talia’s connections to the Chaldean Catholic community in the United States, particularly those in the Washington, D.C. area and in Southeast Michigan, where some 150,000 Chaldean Catholics have established new homes over the past century. Plans also exist to interview Iraqi Christian communities in Europe and elsewhere, as well as release a documentary funded by the Michigan Humanities Council.

After developing a detailed questionnaire, the team began to record interviews with members of the Chaldean communities in both English and Neo-Aramaic, a form of the language spoken by Christ. The researchers also collected photographs and documents to digitize and present online along with the recordings as part of a comprehensive online archive.

Ryann Craig, a doctoral student in the department of Semitics, explained that after consulting with oral history experts at the Library of Congress and elsewhere, the team sought to “draw out descriptions of communal life in their original languages” in the interview process.

“My challenge was to try to craft questions that would get people to answer in their native tongue.” One of the first questions, she said, was to ask community members to explain the meaning behind their family name and its importance in their home village. This same technique was also used in getting participants to sing special communal songs created for special occasions like marriages or births, as well as to describe childhood games, or record how family recipes were made and their importance.

Given the circumstances that have brought some Chaldean Christians to the United States, however, some interviews have captured a much different side of the Middle Eastern Christian experience: persecution and flight. Craig told CNA that some of the first interviews of the project were conducted with recent refugees, many of whom were still processing the traumatic circumstances leading up to their exodus.

“A lot of the questions we were asking just weren’t relevant for them,” she said of the questions about traditions and history on the group’s questionnaire. “At that point we just decided to let them tell whatever story they wanted to tell, and didn’t really prompt as much as we do with people who have been here for decades and feel more settled.”

In collecting both these stories as well as those from Chaldean Christians who moved to the United States decades ago for economic reasons, the group has been able to document a cross-section of Iraqi Christian life. Among those who came over in the 1950s-70s, the researchers have recorded histories by people from smaller Christian villages who spoke Neo-Aramaic and were very much connected to the Chaldean identity and more ancient traditions and ways of life.

Meanwhile, the majority of Chaldean refugees coming over to the United States as a result of violence and persecution are more likely to speak Arabic than Neo-Aramaic, and are also more likely to come from larger, more cosmopolitan cities. Still, among those persecuted, “there’s a profound sense of them being Christian, because they’re being persecuted for that reason.”

‘More than just memories’

Though Talia is not involved directly in the interview process, he stressed to CNA the importance of gathering oral histories due to their unique ability to capture the essence of what it’s like to be a Middle Eastern Christian.

Just as his mother painted the experience of growing up in her hometown for Talia and his siblings, so too do these oral histories transmit the feeling of being in the communities of northern Iraq. “When you see these memories put on audio or on video, you can feel as if you were, or are present.”

While Talia was raised in Baghdad, his mother came from a Christian village of around 5,000 people in the northern Nineveh plain, without electricity, but maintaining many ancient traditions in their daily lives, including use of the Neo-Aramaic language.

“It’s more than simply nostalgia,” he explained of the stories. “It’s more than just memories. It’s a way of life which has disappeared or is disappearing.”

For Talia, the importance oral history plays in Middle Eastern culture has all the more weight due to the uncertainty faced by many communities. Even those that have been freed from the hands of ISIS are often in ruins, and much of the Middle Eastern Christian community is now in diaspora. Talia wants to help ensure “that the community isn’t gone simply because it isn’t in the villages or the towns.”

The next generation

The preservation of their home cultures and traditions is also a major concern for young Middle Eastern Christians who want to know more about their roots.

Yousif Kalian is a second-generation Iraqi immigrant and a member of the Syriac Catholic Church. As an undergraduate student at The Catholic University of America, he was a young adult researcher on the Christian Communities of the East Cultural Heritage Project, and he has continued to work with the endeavor after graduation. He initially learned about the project while taking a class with Dr. Talia.

“I’ve always had an interest in the region from a professional point of view, on top of being Iraqi-American,” Kalian told CNA. He said that within both Catholic and secular culture in the United States, there is a lack of understanding about Middle Eastern Christians, as well as a culture gap between Middle Eastern parents or grandparents and their children or grandchildren. This, he said, has left a lot of questions about identity and culture among many of his Middle Eastern Christian peers.

Kalian sees this project’s blending of oral history and multimedia access as a way for young people to help change that knowledge gap.

“If you know anything about the Middle East, the oral tradition is the most prominent tradition there,” he said, pointing to the recitation traditions in Islam, Judaism and several Christian churches. Singing and storytelling are closely tied up with the identity of the people, he explained.

“I think not just preserving dates and numbers and facts, but really preserving the stories is the most important thing to preserve from Middle Eastern Christian culture,” Kalian stressed.

“We all grew up with stories. The monastery that my grandfather is named after was destroyed by ISIS in 2015,” he said. “And my grandfather’s name was Behnam.”

Saint Behnam and Saint Sara monastery was established in the 4th Century in the Nineveh plain, about 20 miles from the city of Mosul. In late 2014, ISIS fighters took control of the monastery, expelling the monks under threat of death. On March 19, 2015, the terrorist group released images of the destruction of the tomb of Saint Behnam and the surrounding buildings.

Yet, Kalian keeps the memory of the monastery with him, as a part of who he is. “The story goes that my great grandma couldn’t have a son,” he told CNA. “Kept having daughters, and in Middle Eastern culture having a son is a point of pride: he carries the name and the wealth and protection. So she went to St. Behnam monastery and was praying, ‘Please give me a boy, St. Behnam. I’ll name him after you if you give me a boy.’”

“Sure enough, she gave birth to a boy, and he survived,” Kalian said, “He survived, and she named him Behnam.”

“You can find a book on Christianity in Iraq, or you can find a book on this monastery. But stories like this: they’ll die with our parents or grandparents.”

“That’s why I think this project is so important: to get the recipes of the food that they cook and the history behind the food they cook, and the names of our parents and grandparents and where they come from, and these saints and stories and traditions … once we move here, to an extent it stays and is alive, but in another sense it gets lost,” he lamented. “That’s why I think that this project really is important.”

And he is not the only one who is excited about the chance to pass on these stories: his siblings and other friends from his Syriac Catholic community have been interested in having a template to interview their parents and grandparents, and a way to digitize their memories. Kalian himself hopes to interview his family members and priests to collect their oral histories.

“I think every young person, if offered the opportunity, would love to speak with their grandparents or parents, if you gave them a structure to find out more about their own history,” he said.

“If you make it an active thing to learn about your culture and not just have it be reading or watching documentaries. Being able to engage – having it be an active thing and have an active culture – will engage them more and therefore persevere our communities, our history, our culture and our language.”

Once completed, the Christian Communities of the East Cultural Heritage Project will be accessible at ccmideast.org and in the archives of the Institute of Christian Oriental Research at The Catholic University of America. Documentary video will also be distributed in Michigan at a later date.

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Movie review: ‘It Comes at Night’

by Carl Kozlowski • June 16, 2017

Humans are generally a trusting species, with most people willing to make new friends and help strangers in times of need. But there are times when questions linger in the back of the mind about whether a nice decision was the right one to make, and the film “It Comes at Night” wrings maximum tension out of just such a quandary.

However, the way this psychological thriller handles those quandaries is highly disturbing and assumes the worst about human nature. And when one considers the fact that viewers are affected by the images and messages they take in, this is a movie that can really be destructive to one’s spirit.

The movie opens starkly, with an immediate and grim scenario in which an elderly man is gasping for his last breaths and displaying strange splotches on his skin. The muffled voice of his daughter Sarah (Carmen Ejogo) is heard off-screen as she tells him to let himself pass away, before she is revealed wearing a gas mask and gloves.

Her husband Paul (Joel Edgerton) and teenage son Travis (Kelvin Harrison) are also in protective gear, and within moments they are taking him outside to kill him and set him aflame. From those horrific moments, it becomes clear that even if there are some thoughtful aspects to “Night,” it’s going to be a twisted ride.

It’s never made clear what Sarah’s father was sick with, but it soon is revealed that the illness is highly contagious and has likely wiped out nearly every human on the planet. Paul and his family are hiding out in a large house deep in a forest, and are reduced to grinding out each uncertain day living as if they’re in frontier times.

Then one night, noises are heard deep in the house, and a gun-toting Paul finds a fellow father named Will (Christopher Abbott) inside with a gun of his own. After a tense confrontation, Will swears that he and his family are not infected and begs Paul to exchange some of his water for food.

Susan goes one better, convincing Paul to take Will, his wife Kim (Riley Keough) and young son Andrew (Griffin Robert Faulkner) in with them because forming a sense of community will make life safer and saner. It seems like a nice idea, but soon subtle tensions arise as each man has to walk the fine line between the mutual trust and friendship needed to survive, and being on their toes about any sign their families might endanger each other.

Writer-director Trey Edward Shults masterfully induces claustrophobia in the viewer, with the dark hallways of Paul’s house filled with closed doors and its characters seeming to wall their true thoughts and emotions inside themselves as well. The woods outside are expansive, but also filled with the dread of uncertainty and the sense that it would be a bad idea to venture very far from the homestead.

That Shults and his tightly wound cast are able to convey that fear of the unseen unknown as expertly as if a killer, a monster or a wave of zombies were visibly coming towards them makes the film unique amid the bombastic blockbusters that fill the summer season. Yet when tensions unexpectedly simmer and explode, he shows that sometimes the most frightening monster is our own sense of self-preservation, and “Night” becomes a well-made but unmistakable downer.

There’s not much foul language in “Night” with three or four F words among 20 scattered profanities, and its violence isn’t exploitative in the vein of most horror films, as the major incidents occur at its beginning and end rather than throughout. But the impact of its horrors lies in the fact that they happen on a very close and intimate level, with the ending particularly disturbing because viewers have come to know and care about the characters. When the violence does happen, it lingers in the mind.

There are a few bizarre nightmare sequences, including one where a woman climbs into bed with a teenage boy and pours blood from her mouth onto his face when she kisses him. One of the married couples is also seen holding each other romantically in a tub and kissing a bit, with implied rather than direct nudity, and the same couple is also heard moaning in their bedroom off-screen.

In addition to starring as Paul, Edgerton served as the film’s executive producer, playing a key part in attracting the financing for this film. He also served as the writer-director and co-star of the much better 2015 thriller “The Gift,” which also mined issues of trust with tension, so it’s clear he has a fascination with exploring human nature amid dire circumstances.

Such psychological insights can be invaluable qualities in an age when most films fade quickly from memory. Yet while he and the rest of the cast turn in powerful performances working with emotionally draining material, viewers will wind up feeling more miserable than entertained.

This movie is rated R.

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’s 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 • JUNE 18, 2017

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ

First Reading (Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a; NRSVCE)

Moses said to the people, “Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

“Do not forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock, and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know.”

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20; NRSVCE)

R: (12) Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!

Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!

Praise your God, O Zion!

For he strengthens the bars of your gates;

he blesses your children within you.

R: Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!

He grants peace within your borders;

he fills you with the finest of wheat.

He sends out his command to the earth;

his word runs swiftly.

R: Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!

He declares his word to Jacob,

his statutes and ordinances to Israel.

He has not dealt thus with any other nation;

they do not know his ordinances.

Praise the Lord!

R: Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!

Second Reading (1 Cor 10:16-17; NRSVCE)

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Gospel Reading (Jn 6:51-58; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to the crowd, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

MONDAY • JUNE 19, 2017

Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (2 Cor 6:1-10; NRSVCE)

As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,

“At an acceptable time I have listened to you,

and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”

See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see — we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 98:1, 2b, 3ab, 3cd-4; NRSVCE)

R: (2a) The Lord has made known his victory.

O sing to the Lord a new song,

for he has done marvelous things.

His right hand and his holy arm

have gotten him victory.

R: The Lord has made known his victory.

He has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.

He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness

to the house of Israel.

R: The Lord has made known his victory.

All the ends of the earth have seen

the victory of our God.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;

break forth into joyous song and sing praises.

R: The Lord has made known his victory.

Gospel Reading (Mt 5:38-42; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.”

TUESDAY • JUNE 20, 2017

Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (2 Cor 8:1-9; NRSVCE)

We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints — and this, not merely as we expected; they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us, so that we might urge Titus that, as he had already made a beginning, so he should also complete this generous undertaking among you. Now as you excel in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you — so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.

I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 146:2, 5-6ab, 6c-7, 8-9a; NRSVCE)

R: (1b) Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

I will praise the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

R: Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the Lord their God,

who made heaven and earth,

the sea, and all that is in them.

R: Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Who keeps faith forever;

who executes justice for the oppressed;

who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free.

R: Praise the Lord, O my soul!

The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.

The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

the Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord watches over the strangers.

R: Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Gospel Reading (Mt 5:43-48; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

WEDNESDAY • JUNE 21, 2017

Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga

First Reading (2 Cor 9:6-11; NRSVCE)

The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. As it is written,

“He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever.”

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 112:1bc-2, 3-4, 9; NRSVCE)

R: (1b) Happy are those who fear the Lord.

Happy are those who fear the Lord,

who greatly delight in his commandments.

Their descendants will be mighty in the land;

the generation of the upright will be blessed.

R: Happy are those who fear the Lord.

Wealth and riches are in their houses,

and their righteousness endures forever.

They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright;

they are gracious, merciful, and righteous.

R: Happy are those who fear the Lord.

They have distributed freely, they have given to the poor;

their righteousness endures forever;

their horn is exalted in honor.

R: Happy are those who fear the Lord.

Gospel Reading (Mt 6:1-6, 16-18; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

THURSDAY • JUNE 22, 2017

Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (2 Cor 11:1-11; NRSVCE)

I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough. I think that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. I may be untrained in speech, but not in knowledge; certainly in every way and in all things we have made this evident to you.

Did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I proclaimed God’s good news to you free of charge? I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for my needs were supplied by the friends who came from Macedonia. So I refrained and will continue to refrain from burdening you in any way. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boast of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 111:1b-2, 3-4, 7-8; NRSVCE)

R: (7a) The works of the Lord are faithful and just.

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,

in the company of the upright, in the congregation.

Great are the works of the Lord,

studied by all who delight in them.

R: The works of the Lord are faithful and just.

Full of honor and majesty is his work,

and his righteousness endures forever.

He has gained renown by his wonderful deeds;

the Lord is gracious and merciful.

R: The works of the Lord are faithful and just.

The works of his hands are faithful and just;

all his precepts are trustworthy.

They are established forever and ever,

to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.

R: The works of the Lord are faithful and just.

Gospel Reading (Mt 6:7-15; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“Pray then in this way:

‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And do not bring us to the time of trial,

but rescue us from the evil one.’

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

FRIDAY • JUNE 23, 2017

Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

First Reading (Dt 7:6-11; NRSVCE)

Moses said to the people, “You are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

“It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you — for you were the fewest of all peoples. It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and who repays in their own person those who reject him. He does not delay but repays in their own person those who reject him. Therefore, observe diligently the commandment — the statutes and the ordinances — that I am commanding you today.”

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 10; NRSVCE)

R: (cf. 17) The love of the Lord is everlasting on those who fear him.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and do not forget all his benefits.

R: The love of the Lord is everlasting on those who fear him.

Who forgives all your iniquity,

who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the Pit,

who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.

R: The love of the Lord is everlasting on those who fear him.

The Lord works vindication

and justice for all who are oppressed.

He made known his ways to Moses,

his acts to the people of Israel.

R: The love of the Lord is everlasting on those who fear him.

The Lord is merciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

R: The love of the Lord is everlasting on those who fear him.

Second Reading (1 Jn 4:7-16; NRSVCE)

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

Gospel Reading (Mt 11:25-30; NRSVCE)

At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

SATURDAY • JUNE 24, 2017

Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

First Reading (Is 49:1-6; NRSVCE)

Listen to me, O coastlands,

pay attention, you peoples from far away!

The Lord called me before I was born,

while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.

He made my mouth like a sharp sword,

in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me a polished arrow,

in his quiver he hid me away.

And he said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

But I said, “I have labored in vain,

I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my cause is with the Lord,

and my reward with my God.”

And now the Lord says,

who formed me in the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him,

and that Israel might be gathered to him,

for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,

and my God has become my strength —

he says,

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to restore the survivors of Israel;

I will give you as a light to the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 14c-15; NRSVCE)

R: (14) I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from far away.

You search out my path and my lying down,

and are acquainted with all my ways.

R: I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

For it was you who formed my inward parts;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works

R: I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

My soul you know very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

R: I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

Second Reading (Acts 13:22-26; NRSVCE)

Paul said, “When Samuel had removed Saul, he made David their king. In his testimony about him he said, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, to be a man after my heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’ Of this man’s posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised; before his coming John had already proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his work, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but one is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals on his feet.’

“My brothers, you descendants of Abraham’s family, and others who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent.”

Gospel Reading (Lk 1:57-66, 80; NRSVCE)

The time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.