VOLUME 3, ISSUE 19  •  JULY 8, 2017

Table of Contents

Copyright Notice

VATICAN NEWS

Pope names Archbishop Luis Ladaria as Müller’s successor to head CDF

Four reasons why this consistory was an unusual one

No matter who you are, make Christ your number one, Pope Francis says

Cardinal Müller: There’s no problem between me, Pope Francis

Pope asks for parents’ wishes to be respected in Charlie Gard case

Pope Francis donates 50,000 euros to Greek island struck by earthquake

Pope Francis: World hunger is a result of indifference and selfishness

Cardinal Joachim Meisner, one of four ‘dubia’ cardinals, dies at age 83

Vatican, al-Azhar focus on papal trip speeches in latest meeting

Pope dedicates July to praying for those distant from the faith

Vatican says it has worked to resolve past issues at Pope’s hospital

Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood

Pope Francis to G20 Summit: With great power comes great responsibility

WORLD NEWS

German bishops criticize parliament’s approval of gay marriage

Rise in priest suicides prompts call for helpline in Ireland

Pope’s hospital in Rome offers to take Charlie Gard

Charlie Gard will not be transferred to Vatican Hospital

Bishop responds: No, abortion isn’t a Canadian ‘core’ value

In wake of North Korea threat, bishops call for elimination of nuclear weapons

U.S. NEWS

Man plows over Ten Commandments monument in Arkansas

Cardinal Dolan: Joy is at the heart of evangelization

Archbishop Lori: Like Doubting Thomas, God frees us from fear for mission

Cardinal DiNardo: To be active, we have to learn to be contemplative

New bill expands already-liberal abortion laws in Oregon

FEATURES

As demographics change, how will the U.S. Church respond?

Bishop Barron: How to evangelize the ‘nones’

Movie review: ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Sunday • July 9, 2017

Monday • July 10, 2017

Tuesday • July 11, 2017

Wednesday • July 12, 2017

Thursday • July 13, 2017

Friday • July 14, 2017

Saturday • July 15, 2017

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Volume 3, Issue 19 • July 8, 2017

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope names Archbishop Luis Ladaria as Müller’s successor to head CDF

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • July 1, 2017

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — The Vatican announced Saturday that as Cardinal Gerhard Müller’s term as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith comes to an end, the Pope has not renewed it, but has appointed Jesuit Archbishop Luis Ladaria to take his place.

The decision was officially published in a July 1 communique from the Vatican, which stated the Holy Father’s thanks to Cardinal Müller for his term.

July 2 marks the end of Müller’s five-year mandate as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which included the positions of president of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei,” the Pontifical Biblical Commission and the International Theological Commission.

Ladaria, who has served as archbishop of Thibica and as secretary of the CDF since 2008, will be succeeding Müller in each of the same duties.

The Vatican did not specify what Cardinal Müller will be doing next.

Müller was tapped to head the congregation, the most important dicastery in the Roman Curia, by Benedict XVI before his resignation in 2012.

Pope Francis renewed Müller’s appointment to the CDF and to each of the commissions after his election, allowing the prelate to serve the entirety of his 5-year term in each, which ends July 2.

Müller is known to have been a conservative voice within the Curia, and, contrary to other German prelates, backed more traditional interpretations of Chapter 8 of Pope Francis’ 2016 post-synodal apostolic exhortation, “Amoris Laetitia,” on the reception of communion for divorced and remarried couples, insisting that it does not breach Church teaching.

In addition to the nomination of Archbishop Ladaria as Müller’s replacement, the Vatican also announced the appointment of Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, archbishop of Florence, as a member of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

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VATICAN NEWS

Four reasons why this consistory was an unusual one

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • July 1, 2017

Pope Francis creates five new cardinals during a consistory in St. Peter’s Basilica on June 28, 2017. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — A consistory is a gathering of cardinals, which the Pope can convoke to give solemnity to a particular decision, or simply to ask his “Senate” to counsel him on an important issue. However, the most recent consistory, held June 28, was rather exceptional. Here are four reasons why.

A surprise consistory

The June 28 consistory was a real surprise: when Pope Francis announced it May 21, there had been none of the normal hints that he was going to call for one.

For one thing, there were only a few open “slots” in the College of Cardinals. According to the norm set by Bl. Paul VI and confirmed by St. John Paul II, there can be only 120 cardinals who have voting rights in the event of a conclave to choose the next Pope (the primary responsibility of cardinals).

However, Pope Francis made the decision to create five new cardinals, so following this week’s consistory, there are now 121 cardinals with the right to vote in a future conclave, surpassing the normal limit of 120.

He is not the first Pope to do so. St. John Paul II created 44 cardinals in the Feb. 21, 2001 consistory. This made 135 cardinals with voting rights, a full 15 over the limit set by Paul VI.

A small number of cardinals

Also unusual for a single consistory: Pope Francis created just five cardinals.

Only one of them comes from Europe, while the other four come from countries that have never had a cardinal before: Mali, El Salvador, Sweden, and Laos.

This consistory, to some extent, is similar to the final one convoked by Pope Benedict XVI, which took place Nov. 24, 2012. During that consistory, Benedict XVI created only six new cardinals, and none of them hailed from Europe: it was the first consistory since 1924 with no Europeans in the list of new cardinals.

In 1977, Pope Paul VI convoked his final consistory, creating only four new cardinals. Among them was Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI.

The visit to the Pope emeritus

Another interesting aspect to this consistory: the newly created cardinals, joined by Pope Francis, paid a visit to the former pontiff, Benedict XVI.

Ever since Pope Francis has convoked consistories, the Pope emeritus has been taken into consideration and had some role in them.

Benedict XVI took part in Pope Francis’ first two consistories for the creation of new cardinals, held Feb. 22, 2013 and Feb. 14, 2014.

Though the Pope emeritus did not take part in the third of Pope Francis’ consistories, held Nov. 19, 2016, the newly created cardinals paid a visit to him in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery where he lives.

This time the new cardinals were accompanied by Pope Francis as they paid a visit to Benedict XVI.

The lack of a pre-consistory meeting for a general discussion

According to the Code of Canon Law, there are two types of consistories: ordinary and extraordinary.

All cardinals are called to take part in extraordinary consistories, which are celebrated only in particular cases. In contrast, ordinary consistories are summoned when the Pope needs the cardinals’ counsel on some issue, or to add solemnity to a decision by the Pope, for example the canonization of saints or the creation of new cardinals.

Sometimes both types of consistories take place consecutively. The first two ordinary consistories convoked by Pope Francis were preceded by extraordinary consistories, as the Pope took advantage of the cardinals’ presence in Rome to discuss important issues.

The Feb. 22, 2014 consistory was preceded by an extraordinary consistory on the issues of the family, while the Feb. 14, 2015 consistory was preceded by an extraordinary consistory to discuss the reform of the Curia.

In contrast, neither this week’s consistory nor the one that took place on Nov. 19, 2016 were preceded by pre-consistory meetings.

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VATICAN NEWS

No matter who you are, make Christ your number one, Pope Francis says

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • July 2, 2017

Pope Francis venerates the cross on Good Friday in 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — On Sunday, Pope Francis said that everyone – lay or religious – must put their relationship with Jesus above all else; and striving to do this, even imperfectly, will help them to be like Christ to the world.

“People need to perceive that for that disciple, Jesus is truly ‘Lord,’ he is truly the center of his life, the whole of his life. It does not matter if, like every human person, he has his limits and even his mistakes – provided he has the humility to recognize them,” the Pope said July 2.

“Any disciple, a layman, a laywoman, a priest, a bishop: a prioritized relationship. Perhaps the first question we need to ask a Christian is: ‘But do you meet with Jesus? Do you pray to Jesus?’ The relationship.”

Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square about the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus in the life of a disciple. Before leading the Angelus, he reflected on the day’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus sends his disciples out to be missionaries for the first time.

“In this final part, Jesus emphasizes two essential aspects for the life of the missionary disciple,” Francis said, “the first, that his bond with Jesus is stronger than any other bond; the second, that the missionary does not carry himself alone, but Jesus, and through him the love of the heavenly Father.”

The Pope pointed out that these two aspects of discipleship are intricately linked, because the more a Christian puts Jesus at the center of his heart and his life, the more clearly he radiates the presence of Christ in the world.

In the Gospel, we hear Jesus say: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me …” This isn’t to say these relationships aren’t good, but “the affection of a father, the tenderness of a mother, the sweet friendship between brothers and sisters, all this … cannot be put before Christ,” he emphasized.

And this isn’t because God wants us to be deprived of love and gratitude for our families, he continued, but because the condition of a disciple requires prioritizing our relationship with Jesus above all else.

Doing this, we become Christ’s own representative on earth, his “ambassador,” the Pope said. “To the point that Jesus himself, sending the disciples on a mission, tells them: ‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.’”

But living in the world, there’s a trap we can fall into, he warned, which is the temptation to be hypocrites, what he called having a “double heart.”

“I am a Christian, I am a disciple of Jesus, I am a priest, I am a bishop, but I have a double heart. No, this does not work,” he said. “He should not have a double heart, but a simple, united heart; that he does not hold his foot in two shoes, but is honest with himself and with others. Duplicity is not Christian.”

It is against this that Jesus prays for his disciples that they not fall into the “spirit of the world.”

“Either you are with Jesus, with the spirit of Jesus, or you are with the spirit of the world,” the Pope emphasized.

Speaking to priests, he said that there is something beautiful they are taught through the experience of their vocation, and that is that the more a priest is near to God’s people, the nearer he will feel to Jesus, and the more he is near to Jesus, the closer he will feel to the people of God.

This reciprocity can work for all, however. If you leave everything for Christ, people will recognize Christ in you, he said. And at the same time, this helps you to conform yourself more and more to him, helping you to “purge yourself from compromises and overcome temptations.”

Francis concluded his remarks by asking the Virgin Mary, who has firsthand experience of what it means to love Jesus above all else, to help give us “a new meaning to family ties, starting with faith in Him.”

“With her motherly intercession, she helps us to be free and happy missionaries of the Gospel.”

After leading the Angelus, the Pope pointed out that July 5 is Independence Day in Venezuela. He called for an end to violence and for a peaceful and democratic solution to the current crisis in the country, assuring his prayers for the nation and for those who have lost loved ones.

Asking the intercession of Our Lady of Coromoto, the patroness of Venezuela, he led those present in praying a ‘Hail Mary’ for the country.

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VATICAN NEWS

Cardinal Müller: There’s no problem between me, Pope Francis

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • July 2, 2017

Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at the Vatican during the Synod on the Family on Oct. 13, 2014. (Daniel Ibañez/CNA)

Vatican City — In a brief interview given just hours after hearing that he would no longer be heading the Vatican’s doctrine office, Cardinal Gerhard Müller said the decision was normal, and was not the result of conflict between him and Pope Francis.

“There were no differences between me and Pope Francis,” Cardinal Müller told Allgemeine Zeitung, a regional German paper from Mainz.

Müller spoke to the paper while in Mainz for his 50th high school reunion. He traveled to the city Friday after meeting with Pope Francis earlier that morning, receiving the news that his term as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith would not be renewed.

The cardinal, 69, said that while he doesn’t know the specifics of why his 5-year term was not extended, the Pope informed him of his desire to move away from trend of renewing curial mandates.

Although it has until now been common for these 5-year terms to be renewed, Müller said that during their meeting, Pope Francis said he wants to progressively move toward a general practice of limiting mandates to just 5 years, “and I happened to be the first one to which this applied.”

“It doesn’t matter much to me,” Müller said, adding that “at some point, everyone has to stop.”

Müller was tapped to head the Vatican’s doctrine office, the most important dicastery in the Roman Curia, by Benedict XVI before his resignation in 2012. The charge included the positions of president of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei,” the Pontifical Biblical Commission and the International Theological Commission.

Pope Francis renewed Müller’s appointment to the CDF and to each of the commissions after his election, allowing the prelate to serve the entirety of his 5-year term in each, which ends July 2.

The Vatican announced July 1 that taking Müller’s place will be Jesuit Archbishop Luis Ladaria, who was appointed secretary to the CDF by Benedict XVI in 2008, and is known to be simple, orthodox in his theology, highly intellectual and is described by those who know him as not being a “yes man.”

In his interview with “Allgemeine Zeitung,” Müller simply stated that his 5-year mandate as prefect of the CDF “had now run its course,” and the decision to replace him had nothing to do with conflict that’s been painted between he and the Pope.

Nor was it the result of differing opinions on Francis’ 2016 post-synodal apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia,” he said. While the two didn’t agree on all aspects of the text, the cardinal insisted there was no fight about it.

Despite their disagreements on some points, Müller is known to have been a conservative voice within the Curia, and, contrary to other German prelates, backed more traditional interpretations of Chapter 8 of the document, which touched on the reception of communion for divorced and remarried couples.

However, the cardinal did voice his disappointment in Francis’ decision to dismiss three members of his staff a few weeks ago, noting that the officials “were competent people.”

Regarding his new role, Müller said that after ceasing his position as head of the CDF July 3, he will stay at the Vatican.

“I will work academically, continue to serve in my role as cardinal, do pastoral work. There is enough for me to do in Rome,” he said, adding that “in any case, I would normally be a pensioner by now.”

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope asks for parents’ wishes to be respected in Charlie Gard case

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • July 2, 2017

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

Vatican City — Stepping into a tumultuous legal battle involving a UK couple’s push for a say in the treatment and death of their terminally ill son, Pope Francis has offered his prayers for the child, and asked that the parents’ wishes be respected.

“The Holy Father follows with affection and emotion the story of Charlie Gard and expresses his own closeness to his parents,” read a July 2 statement issued by Vatican spokesman Greg Burke.

“He prays for them, wishing that their desire to accompany and care for their own child to the end will be respected.”

The statement was made as the tense legal battle between Gard’s parents and the UK officials regarding how and when he will die comes to an end.

At just 11 months, Gard suffers from a rare degenerative brain disease called infantile onset encephalomyopathic mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome, or MDDS.

With only 16 known cases in the world, the disease causes extensive brain damage. While Charlie Gard does have some brain function, he requires assistance to breathe, has periodic seizures, and is not expected to develop sophisticated mental abilities without treatment.

Gard’s parents were able to raise nearly $2 million in order to take him to the United States for an experimental treatment. Some doctors have been skeptical about the results, however, other patients currently undergoing the treatment have shown significant improvement.

But despite having the funds for the treatment, UK courts have ruled against the possibility, arguing that further treatment would cause harm to Gard. In addition, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that the Great Ormond Street Hospital, where the infant is staying, is not required to keep him on life support.

When his parents asked to take their son home to die, their request was denied. Gard’s life support machines were to be turned off Friday, but the courts allowed the parents to have more time with their child before his death.

Pope Francis’ statement follows an earlier response to the case from the head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, who while arguing for the defense of life at all stages, including during illness, appeared sympathetic to the court’s ruling, saying “aggressive medical procedures that are disproportionate to any expected results or excessively burdensome to the patient or the family” must be avoided.

Not only did the Pope’s statement appear to counter the position previously voiced by Paglia, but on Friday, the day the infant’s life support was initially scheduled to be disconnected, he used his Twitter account to send a clear pro-life message in the infant’s favor.

Reading “to defend human life, above all when it is wounded by illness, is a duty of love that God entrusts to all,” the tweet was shared by Burke, who added the hashtag “#CharlieGard,” clearly indicating that the Pope’s tweet was in reference to the infant.

As Gard’s parents continue to spend the remaining time with their son, public debate on the case continues to unfurl, with citizens protesting outside UK parliament.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis donates 50,000 euros to Greek island struck by earthquake

CNA/EWTN News • July 3, 2017

Pope Francis visits an earthquake zone in Italy in 2016. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Athens, Greece — Pope Francis has donated 50 thousand euros to the island of Lesbos, Greece, which is recovering from a June earthquake.

The donation comes just a few days after the Holy Father received a full report on the extent of the damage.

Archbishop Nikolaos Printezis, Bishop of Naxos, Andros, Tinos and Mykonos, said the Pope’s donation was a sign of the closeness of the Pontiff to the people who have suffered the consequences of the earthquake.

On June 12, a powerful earthquake measuring 6.3 hit the western coast of Turkey and the Greek island of Lesbos , killing one person, displacing approximately 800, and destroying infrastructure from the Turkish Aegean province, Izmir, to the Greek capital, Athens.

The earthquake’s epicenter was located about 50 miles northwest of the Turkish coastal city of Smyrna and nine miles south of Lesbos, according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC).

Pope Francis visited the island of Lesbos in 2016, as it is a main point of entry for thousands of refugees fleeing violence in places such as Iraq and Syria.

During that trip, Pope Francis brought back 12 Syrian refugees with him, selected by lottery, including six children. Their homes had been bombed, and the Vatican oversaw their resettlement.

Currently, there are 3,500 migrants on Lesbos awaiting the outcome of asylum applications or deportation. According to the New York Times, aid workers reported no damage or injuries at the refugee camps due to the earthquake.

In the coming days a Vatican representative will visit Lesbos and deliver the money donated by the Pope.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis: World hunger is a result of indifference and selfishness

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • July 4, 2017

Pope Francis arrives in St. Peter’s Square for the General Audience on Sept. 21 2016. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — On Monday Pope Francis said that while hunger and undernourishment around the world can be an unsettling thing to confront, we must use this to remind us how these situations are caused – which is through indifference and selfishness.

“A glance at the current world situation does not offer us a comforting picture. Yet we cannot remain merely preoccupied or, worse, resigned,” he wrote July 3.

“This moment of evident difficulty must make us even more conscious that hunger and malnutrition are not only natural or structural phenomena in determined geographical areas, but the result of a more complex condition of underdevelopment caused by the indifference of many or the selfishness of a few.”

It is concrete decisions, he said, that lead to devastating consequences such as war and terrorism. “We are dealing with a complex mechanism that mainly burdens the most vulnerable, who are not only excluded from the processes of production, but frequently obliged to leave their lands in search of refuge and hope.”

Pope Francis sent his message July 3 for the opening session of the 40th General Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). It was read by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, in the Pope’s place.

In the opening Francis noted his sorrow for not being able to deliver the message of support and encouragement in person. He also sent his “respect and esteem” for the demanding task they must carry out.

The Church accompanies all those committed to working on behalf of the poor and undernourished, the Pope said, adding that the 2030 Development Agenda of the UN reflects this same commitment by stating that the fight for universal food security cannot be put off.

“Yet only an effort inspired by authentic solidarity will be capable of eliminating the great number of persons who are undernourished and deprived of the necessities of life,” he said.

“This is a very great challenge for FAO and for all the Institutions of the international community. It is also a challenge that the Church is committed to on the front lines.”

“The Holy See closely follows the work of the international community and wishes to assist its efforts to promote not mere progress or development goals in theory, but rather the actual elimination of hunger and malnutrition,” he said.

The Pope emphasized that merely the intention to provide everyone with his or her daily bread is not enough. And if our proposed solutions remain distant and not concrete, this is because of a “lack of a culture of solidarity.”

“The commitment of each country to increase its own level of nutrition, to improve agricultural activity and the living conditions of the rural population, is embodied in the encouragement of the agricultural sector, in increased production or in the promotion of an effective distribution of food supplies.”

“Yet this is not enough,” he reiterated. “In effect, what those goals demand is a constant acknowledgment that the right of every person to be free of poverty and hunger depends on the duty of the entire human family to provide practical assistance to those in need.”

To give an example of concrete assistance and to encourage governments, Francis said that he would be making a contribution to the FAO program that provides seeds to rural families in areas affected by both conflict and drought.

When a country is unable to provide an adequate response to the problem of hunger in its own nation, he continued, whether due to underdevelopment, conditions of poverty, or climate change, “FAO and other intergovernmental institutions need to be able to intervene specifically and undertake an adequate solidary action.”

“Since the goods that God the Creator has entrusted to us are meant for all, there is an urgent need for solidarity to be the criterion inspiring all forms of cooperation in international relations,” he said.

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VATICAN NEWS

Cardinal Joachim Meisner, one of four ‘dubia’ cardinals, dies at age 83

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • July 5, 2017

Cardinal Joachim Meisner, who died July 5, 2017 at the age of 83. (Raimond Spekking CC BY-SA 4.0)

Bad Füssing, Germany — Cardinal Joachim Meisner, archbishop emeritus of Cologne, Germany and one of four cardinals who sent the “dubia” to Pope Francis last year, passed away Wednesday morning at the age of 83.

According to a press release from the Archdiocese of Cologne, the cardinal died July 5 while on vacation in Bad Füssing, Germany. Recently, the prelate had lived in Cologne.

Archbishop of Cologne from 1989-2014, he retired with the permission of Pope Francis in February 2014, at the age of 80, the same year his age made him ineligible to vote in a conclave.

Cardinal Meisner, alongside Cardinals Carlo Caffarra, Walter Brandmüller and Raymond Leo Burke, submitted five “dubia,” or doubts, about the interpretation of Amoris laetitia to Pope Francis on Sept. 19, 2016.

The letter, made public in November, asked for clarification on Chapter 8 of the document, which touches on the reception of communion for divorced and remarried couples.

In May, the four – dubbed the “dubia cardinals” – sent a letter to the Pope requesting a private audience to discuss the content of the “dubia,” since they have yet received no response.

Cardinal Meisner, considered a leading conservative Catholic figure in Germany, stood in contrast to other German prelates who have propagated one of the more liberal interpretations of Chapter 8 of the post-synodal document.

Pope Francis sent a telegram to Cardinal Rainer Woelki, Archbishop of Cologne, July 5, expressing his sorrow at the death of Cardinal Meisner, as well as his closeness to Cardinal Woelki and the faithful of the archdiocese.

“With profound emotion I heard the news that suddenly and unexpectedly Cardinal Joachim Meisner has been called from this earth to the God of mercy,” he said.

“With profound faith and sincere love for the Church, Cardinal Meisner dedicated himself to the announcement of the good news,” it continued. “May Christ our Lord reward him for his faithful and courageous commitment on behalf of the people of the east and west, and make him a participant in the communion of saints in heaven.”

The telegram concluded with the Pope’s bestowal of the apostolic blessing on all those “who remember the deceased pastor with prayer and sacrifice.”

Born in Breslau, Germany on December 25, 1933, Cardinal Meisner was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Erfurt-Meiningen in 1962. Later he studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, receiving his doctorate in theology in 1969.

He was appointed auxiliary bishop to the Apostolic Administrator of Erfurt Meiningen in 1975, and elected a delegate to the fourth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican in 1977, where he renewed a friendship with then-Cardinal Karol Wojtyla.

Cardinal Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II one year later, and appointed Meisner Bishop of Berlin in 1980, elevating him to the position of cardinal in 1983.

In 1988 Cardinal Meisner was made Archbishop of Cologne, serving in this position until his retirement at age 80 on Feb. 28, 2014.

He participated in the 2005 and 2013 papal conclaves which elected Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. He had close relationships with both Pope St. John Paul II as well as Joseph Ratzinger, now-Benedict XVI, whom he would visit at the Vatican.

The story was updated at 2:07 p.m. Rome time with the telegram of Pope Francis.

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VATICAN NEWS

Vatican, al-Azhar focus on papal trip speeches in latest meeting

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • July 5, 2017

Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. (Waj via Shutterstock)

Vatican City — In the wake of Pope Francis’ whirlwind visit to Egypt, the Vatican and the prestigious Muslim al-Azhar University have held another meeting, focusing on the landmark speeches given during the Pope’s visit.

The meeting, which took place July 3 at the apostolic nunciature in Egypt, was arranged by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the al-Azhar Center for Dialogue (CAD).

It fell two months after Pope Francis’ April 28-29 visit to Cairo, visit to Cairo, the result of a recent thawing in relations between the Vatican and the university, which had been strained since 2011.

According to a July 4 Vatican communique, the meeting focused primarily on the speeches of both Pope Francis and the Grad Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed Muhammad al-Tayyib, during the Pope’s visit.

Specifically, “the joint commitment to continue shared reflections, aimed at promoting a fruitful and effective interreligious dialogue was expressed, focusing in particular on the promotion of peace and the building of a more just world.”

Hailed as one of the most important speeches he’s given so far in his time as Bishop of Rome, the Pope’s opening address to the International Conference on Peace, his first speech of the trip, issued harsh condemnation of religiously-motivated violence and a strong call for it’s rejection in the global sphere.

In the April 28 address, Francis said that “peace alone is holy and no act of violence can be perpetrated in the name of God, for it would profane his Name.”

“Together, in the land where heaven and earth meet, this land of covenants between peoples and believers, let us say once more a firm and clear ‘No!’ to every form of violence, vengeance and hatred carried out in the name of religion or in the name of God,” he said.

Going on, the Pope said we have “an obligation to denounce violations of human dignity and human rights, to expose attempts to justify every form of hatred in the name of religion, and to condemn these attempts as idolatrous caricatures of God.”

Violence and faith, belief and hatred, are incompatible, he said, and asked participants to join him in this affirmation: “together let us declare the sacredness of every human life against every form of violence, whether physical, social, educational or psychological,” he said, as the auditorium erupted in thunderous applause.

Likewise, al-Tayyib, who in his role as Grand Imam of al-Azhar is widely considered to be the highest authority in the 1.5-billion strong Sunni Muslim world, said in his speech that humanity ought to “stress the value of peace, justice, equality and human rights regardless of religion, color, race, or language.”

“We need to liberate the image of religions from false concepts, misunderstandings, malpractices, and false religiosity attached to them. These evils bestir conflicts, spread hate, and instigate violence,” he said, adding that “we should not hold religion accountable for the crimes of any small group of followers.”

He thanked the Pope for his “defense of Islam against the accusation of violence and terrorism,” and voiced his commitment to working together to establish peaceful coexistence and strengthen dialogue.

While many scholars are hesitant at to accept such messages from al-Azhar, claiming there is still a large discrepancy between what is said and what is taught in their curriculum, the restoration of ties with the Vatican is generally seen as a step in the right direction.

This most recent meeting between the Vatican and al-Azhar is the latest step in developing this dialogue.

It was attended by various representatives from both the Holy See and the Islamic university, including, on behalf of al-Azhar, Sheikh Prof. Mohey al-Din Afifi Ahmed, Secretary General of the Academy of Islamic Research of al-Azhar and Coordinator of dialogue at the CAD, and Dr. Kamal Boraiqa Abdelsalam, a member of the center.

The Vatican delegation included Bishop Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, secretary of the council for interreligious dialogue; Msgr. Khaled Akasheh, head of the dicastery’s Office for Islam; and Fr. Jean Druel O.P., Director of the Dominican Institute of Oriental Studies in Cairo.

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope dedicates July to praying for those distant from the faith

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • July 5, 2017

Pope Francis’ prayer video for July 2017. (YouTube)

Vatican City — In his prayer video for the month of July, Pope Francis has asked Christians to join him in praying for those who have strayed from the faith, providing hope to them through the witness of our joy and actions.

“Let us never forget that our joy is Jesus Christ – his faithful and inexhaustible love,” the Pope says at the opening of the video, depicting a man in dark-colored clothing sitting on steps outside of a Church.

“When a Christian becomes sad, it means that he has distanced himself from Jesus,” he says, stressing that “we must not leave him alone!”

Rather, “we should offer him Christian hope – with our words, yes, but more with our testimony, with our freedom, with our joy,” Francis says, as a second man, dressed in white, then walks out of the church and sits next to the man on the steps.

The video then shows several images of happy people, including a group smiling while receiving catechesis, youth dancing during World Youth Day and hands praying the rosary.

At the close of the video, the Pope makes his appeal, saying “let us pray that our brothers and sisters who have strayed from the faith, through our prayer and witness to the Gospel, may rediscover the beauty of the Christian life.”

While Pope Francis is known for reaching out to those of other faiths, his intention this month hits closer to home, focusing on the need to pray not only for Christian unity, but for those who struggle with the faith or who have perhaps left the Church for one reason or another.

His prayer videos first launched during the Jubilee of Mercy and are part of an initiative of the Jesuit-run global prayer network Apostleship of Prayer. They are filmed in collaboration with the Vatican Television Center and the Argentinian marketing association La Machi.

The Apostleship of Prayer, which produces the monthly videos on the Pope’s intentions, was founded by Jesuit seminarians in France in 1884 to encourage Christians to serve God and others through prayer, particularly for the needs of the Church.

Since the late 1800s, the organization has received a monthly, “universal” intention from the Pope. In 1929, an additional missionary intention was added by the Holy Father, aimed at the faithful in particular.

Starting in January, rather than including a missionary intention, Pope Francis has elected to have only one prepared prayer intention – the universal intention featured in the prayer video – and will add a second intention focused on an urgent or immediate need if one arises.

The prayer intentions typically highlight issues of importance not only for Pope Francis, but for the world, such as families, the environment, the poor and homeless, Christians who are persecuted and youth.

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VATICAN NEWS

Vatican says it has worked to resolve past issues at Pope’s hospital

CNA/EWTN News • July 5, 2017

Bambino Gesu Hospital in Rome on Sept. 23, 2014. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — A Vatican official confirmed yesterday that Bambino Gesu hospital has had past problems that the Vatican has worked to resolve.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, said at a Vatican press conference July 4 that a recently-released report on the hospital from the Associated Press contained some things that were “clearly unfounded” but also highlighted valid issues that the hospital has had in the past.

The AP report, which examined the hospital’s operations under its previous 2008-2015 administration, found among other things that the Vatican-owned hospital had shifted its focus from its patients to profits and had some subpar standards of care.

“For what regards the problems that were found, there was serious attention and effort to resolve them,” Cardinal Parolin said.

In 2014, the Vatican conducted its own report on the hospital after fielding several complaints, and found many of the same things, including a focus on profits and breaches in accepted medical protocols including the reuse of disposable equipment, early awakening from surgery and risk of infection due to overcrowding.

After the report, a widespread overhaul of the hospital staff and administration was conducted, and a 2015 report found that many of the previous issues had been resolved.

The Hospital Bambino Gesù was founded in Rome in 1869 as the first pediatric hospital in Italy. In 1924 it was donated to the Holy See and became the “Pope’s Hospital.” While it receives funding from the Italian government, it does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Italian government’s health authorities.

Bambino Gesu fell under scrutiny again in 2016, when the Vatican reported that it was investigating whether former hospital president Giuseppe Profiti had allocated some $200,000 of hospital funds to refurbish the apartment where Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone lives.

In September 2016, Pope Francis warned the hospital’s new president and administration not to fall into corruption, which he called “the worst cancer” a hospital could have.

At the press conference yesterday, Cardinal Parolin and current hospital president Mariella Enoc also presented the hospital’s annual report for 2016.

Among other things, the report highlighted that the hospital had an increase of organ transplants and research projects that have identified 10 new “rare” diseases.

The Hospital Bambino Gesù is the only European pediatric hospital where all types of transplants are performed. In 2016, 339 organ and tissue transplants were performed, a four percent increase from the previous year.

In addition, 242 research projects and 423 clinical trials involving 5,300 patients were undertaken in the past year. In all, 750 physicians, biologists and other health professionals have been involved in hospital-driven scientific research projects. Bambino Gesù also reported a reduction in hospital infections from 7.6 percent in 2006 to 1.8 percent in 2016, or 76 percent less in 10 years.

Enoc said that while the problems in the AP report occurred before she was in charge, she urged anyone at the hospital who had issues in the future to come forward.

“I can say that the climate today is more serene, and I urge everyone when there is a problem … that we talk and talk and not keep it inside and then have it explode,” she said.

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VATICAN NEWS

Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • July 7, 2017

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

Vatican City — Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.

The Pope met July 7 with the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato, giving his approval for the cause to move forward, along with the causes of five persons recognized for their heroic virtue.

He also recognized the martyrdom of two persons killed in hatred of the faith, Bishop Jesús Emilio Jaramillo Monsalve of Arauca, killed near Fortul, Colombia in 1989 and diocesan priest Fr. Pietro Maria Ramírez Ramos, killed on April 10, 1948 in Armero, Colombia.

Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska was born in Warsaw on October 7, 1902 to a family known for their charitable work. She finished high school at a school run by Ursuline sisters in Krakow and after graduating in 1922 attended nursing school in Warsaw.

She became an Oblate with the Ursuline Sisters of St. Benedict.

From 1926-1929 she worked as an instructor at the University School of Nurses and Hygienists in Krakow. For 10 years she held the position of editor of the monthly “Pielegniarka Polska” (“Nurse Poland”), also publishing her own work in the field of nursing.

During this period, she also grew closer to God, joining in the work of the Catholic Association of Polish Nurses in 1937.

Poland saw the outbreak of World War II in 1939. After the war and after the opening of a university school of maternity and nursing in Krakow, she worked as the head of the department dedicated to home nursing.

She was especially dedicated to the proper formation and preparation of her students, including offering advice and assistance while accompanying her students on visits to patients confined at home.

In 1966 she contracted cancer. Despite operations, the disease spread and eventually led to her death on April 29, 1973 in Krakow.

With approval of the miracle, a date can be set for her beatification, likely to take place in Poland.

Another cause moving forward is that of Sister Maria Elisabetta Mazza. Born in 1886 in Martinengo, Italy, she was an elementary school teacher from 1911 onward and was a leading figure in the Catholic Teachers’ Association, called “Niccolò Tommaseo,” which helped to revive Catholic education after the war.

She also founded a religious institution of teachers, called the Congregation of the Little Apostles of the Christian School, which focused on working for the good of society, particularly in the area of education of young people.

After the Second World War, she supported the revival of the “Niccolò Tommaseo” organization, under the new name of the “Italian Association of Catholic Teachers.”

She died on Aug. 29, 1950 in Bergamo, Italy.

The other persons now declared ‘Venerable’ are: Archbishop Ismaele Perdomo of Bogota (1872-1950); Sister Paola of Jesus Gil Cano, foundress of the Congregation of Franciscan Sisters of the Most Pure Conception (1849-1913); Luigi Kosiba (Pietro), layman professed in the Order of Friars Minor (1855-1939); Sister Maria Crocifissa dell’Amore Divino (Maria Gargani), foundress of the Congregation of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart (1892-1973).

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VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis to G20 Summit: With great power comes great responsibility

CNA/EWTN News • July 7, 2017

Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on April 30, 2016. (Alexey Gotovskiy/CNA)

Hamburg, Germany — Pope Francis sent a message to leaders of the world’s economy gathered for the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, reminding them of the responsibility they have to care for those not represented at the summit.

The G20 Summit is annual meeting of heads of state and finance from the leaders of the world’s economy. While only 20 countries are members, they represent 85 percent of the world’s GDP and two-thirds of it’s population.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is hosting this year’s G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany from July 7-8. The summit has been met this year with small but significant groups of mostly anti-capitalist protesters, who among other things are protesting the meeting of U.S. President Donald Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In his address to the leaders, Pope Francis reflected on four key themes, starting with “time is greater than space,” at which point he told the group to consider effective solutions for the immigration crisis that has hit Europe and the Middle East in the past several years. Immigration was already listed on the agenda of the G20 group, for which the Pope said he was thankful.

“An effective solution, necessarily spread over time, will be possible only if the final objective of the process is clearly present in its planning,” he said.

“In the minds and hearts of government leaders, and at every phase of the enactment of political measures, there is a need to give absolute priority to the poor, refugees, the suffering, evacuees and the excluded, without distinction of nation, race, religion or culture, and to reject armed conflicts.”

He paused to especially remind the group of the crisis in South Sudan, where thirty million people are lacking the food and water to survive.

In his next point, “unity prevails over conflict,” the Pope reminded the group that “war … is never a solution,” reiterating the words of Pope Benedict XV.

“There is a tragic contradiction and inconsistency in the apparent unity expressed in common forums on economic or social issues, and the acceptance, active or passive, of armed conflicts,” Francis said.

The Pope also told the summit in his third theme that “realities are more important than ideas,” and asked them not to fall into the ideologies of the first half of the 20th century that brought “exclusion, waste and even death.”

“I pray to God that the Hamburg Summit may be illumined by the example of those European and world leaders who consistently gave pride of place to dialogue and the quest of common solutions: Schuman, De Gasperi, Adenauer, Monnet and so many others,” he said.

And finally, the Holy Father asked the global leaders to remember that “the whole is greater than the part.”

“Problems need to be resolved concretely and with due attention to their specificity, but such solutions, to be lasting, cannot neglect a broader vision,” he said.

“While it is reasonable that G20 Summits should be limited to the small number of countries that represent 90% of the production of wealth and services worldwide, this very situation must prompt the participants to a profound reflection. Those states and individuals whose voice is weakest on the world political scene are precisely the ones who suffer most from the harmful effects of economic crises for which they bear little or no responsibility,” he noted.

“This great majority, which in economic terms counts for only 10% of the whole, is the portion of humanity that has the greatest potential to contribute to the progress of everyone.”

At the end of his remarks, the Pope asked for God’s blessings on the summit.

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WORLD NEWS

German bishops criticize parliament’s approval of gay marriage

by Hannah Brockhaus (CNA/EWTN News) • June 30, 2017

The Reichstag building in Berlin, where the Bundestag meets. (Jan Zeschky via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Berlin, Germany — Archbishop Heiner Koch of Berlin expressed his regret Friday at the German parliament’s vote in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage, saying it had abandoned the fundamental characteristics of marriage.

“The fathers of the (German) constitution gave marriage such pride of place because they wanted to protect and strengthen those who, as a mother and father, want to give life to their children.”

“I regret the fact that the legislature has given up on essential aspects of the marriage concept in order to make the latter amenable to same-sex partnerships,” he said June 30.

Lawmakers in Germany’s parliament voted in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in the country by changing the definition of marriage in their legal code to include two persons of the same sex.

In a statement reacting to the vote, Archbishop Koch, chairman of the commission for marriage and family of the German bishops’ conference, said he also regrets a loss in differentiation between different forms of partnership as a means to “stress the value of same-sex partnerships.”

Regarding different forms of relationship, “differentiation, however, is not discrimination,” he said.

“If the protection of relationships and the assumption of shared responsibility is now provided as a justification for the opening of marriage,” he continued, “then this means a substantial rebalancing of content and a dilution of the classic marriage concept.”

He went on to stress that the Church’s understanding of marriage and its sacramental nature have not changed with the law, and that Catholics must continue to present publically the truth and goodness of the reality of marriage as being between one man and one woman.

“As the Catholic Church, we will now increasingly face the challenge of convincingly presenting the vitality of the Catholic understanding of marriage,” he said. “At the same time, I recall that the sacramental character of our marriage understanding remains unaffected by today’s decision in the Bundestag.”

The vote passed the lower house of Germany’s parliament 393 to 226, with four abstentions. The vote, which took place in a sudden and somewhat unexpected manner, was added to Friday’s agenda by the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the Greens, and The Left.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel herself voted against the redefinition, pointing to her belief in marriage as being between a man and a woman.

However, the chancellor paved the way for the vote to take place with the announcement Monday that she had changed her position on adoption by same-sex couples and would allow deputies of her party, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), a free vote, so they could act according to their “conscience,” she said.

Several of those who voted in favor of the change in definition are members of the Central Committee of German Catholics.

The move was opposed by the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, Alternative for Germany (which holds no seats in the Bundestag), and some members of the CDU.

The session was the final before parliament’s summer recess and the country’s national elections in September.

Representatives of the Church in Germany, including the chairman of the German bishops’ conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, spoke out against the measure shortly before the vote.

“The German Bishops’ Conference emphasizes that marriage, not only from a Christian point of view, is the bond of life and love of woman and man as a principally lifelong connection with the fundamental openness to life.”

“We are of the opinion that the State must continue to protect and promote marriage in this form,” they stated.

Since 2001, it has been legal for same-sex couples in Germany to enter into civil unions, although now they will be allowed the legal protections of marriage, including the option to adopt children.

From here the legislation goes on to the upper house of Parliament for formal approval. It then requires the signature of President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to go into effect, which will likely take place before the end of 2017.

With this change, Germany joins more than 20 other countries that have legalized gay marriage over the last 16 years, including Ireland and the United States in 2015.

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WORLD NEWS

Rise in priest suicides prompts call for helpline in Ireland

CNA/EWTN News • July 3, 2017

Priests celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving for two new Canadian Saints in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 12, 2014. (Lauren Cater/CNA)

Dublin, Ireland — Besides a shortage of vocations, Irish priests are facing an even more harrowing kind of crisis.

At least eight priests in Ireland have committed suicide in the past 10 years, according to recent reports given at meetings of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), and many priests are sounding the alarm about a severe dip in morale and a mental health crisis among the country’s clergy.

The drop in priestly morale has clergy calling for a confidential helpline to be set up for priests needing support.

At a recent ACP meeting, an attendee reiterated the request: “Our morale is affected because we are on a sinking ship. When will the ‘counter-reformation’ take place? We’re like an All-Ireland team without a goalie. We need a national confidential priests’ helpline. We’re slow to look for help.”

The concerns of a severe dip in the morale and well-being of priests in the country have been raised by the 1,000-member clerical group in at least three different meetings in the past few months.

Fr. Roy Donovan, a spokesman for the ACP, told IrishCentral in May that besides the priests who are speaking up, he believes many more elderly churchmen are suffering in silence, and don’t know where to go for help.

The factors for the crisis in morale and mental health are several-fold, priests have said.

Like much of the world, Ireland, once a thriving Catholic country, is facing a serious vocations crisis. In 2004, Ireland had more than 3,100 priests. By 2014, the last year data is available, the number had declined by more than 500, with 2,627 priests in the country, though the number of active priests is likely closer to just 1,900.

This shortage leads to a phenomenon called clustering, where several parishes are combined into one for lack of leadership, increasing priests’ workload and subsequent stress, and forcing many priests to work well beyond retirement years because of the lack of new vocations.

“These men lived through a time when there were plenty of vocations and their churches were full at Mass, so there’s a loss of esteem. Also, in the past they would have had live-in housekeepers. Now most don’t and are on their own and so feeling a lot more isolated and lonely, as well as feeling nervous and more vulnerable,” Fr. Brendan Hoban, one of the founders of ACP, said during a meeting in November 2016.

Also, starting in the 1990s, the Catholic Church in Ireland was rocked by a sex abuse scandal that resulted in a massive decline in both vocations and in the faith of the laypeople.

Priests reported being disheartened by the declining faith in the people they serve, “who have so little contact with the church from First Communions to funerals,” according to minutes from the meetings.

Priests’ confidence “has been eroded when we see so many people going through the motions of faith,” they said.

Recently, the Church in Ireland has also been rocked by negative press regarding the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, and the Sisters there “did a disservice by not clarifying exactly what happened. They need to do so immediately. It makes our job impossible, especially as we face a storm on abortion next year,” the priests noted at a meeting.

Their requests included the hiring of a media person who could speak clearly for clergy and bishops in times of crisis. The country is also facing an ongoing, heated debate about whether or not to legalize abortion.

The priests also acknowledged that they need to be better about asking for help when they need it.

“We need to unmask and say ‘I need help!’ There is a great sense of ‘being alone,’ making our own way in the diocese. There is a lack of dialogue among priests in the diocese. Yet, people are fantastic and generous in parishes, if given half-a-chance.”

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WORLD NEWS

Pope’s hospital in Rome offers to take Charlie Gard

CNA/EWTN News • July 3, 2017

Charlie Gard. (GoFundMe page for Charlie Gard)

Vatican City — The president of the Pediatric Hospital Bambino Gesu in Rome, also known as the “Pope’s Hospital,” has offered to transfer Charlie Gard to his facilities.

Charlie is a 10-month-old baby who suffers a terminal illness and will be disconnected from life support in the next days, against the will of his parents, but at the allowance of the European Court of Human Rights.

President of the hospital, Mariella Enoc, tweeted that the Holy Father’s own words in support of Charlie “sum up well the mission of Hospital Bambino Gesú.”

“For this reason, I have asked the health director to check with the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where the neonate is recovered, if there are sanitary conditions for an eventual transfer of Charlie to our hospital. We know that the case is desperate and that, until now, there are no effective therapies,” the statement said.

“We express our closeness to parents in prayer and, if this is their desire, we are available to welcome their child with us, for as long as he lives.”

Charlie has been diagnosed with mitochondrial depletion syndrome, a rare genetic disease thought to affect just 16 children in the world. The disease causes progressive muscle weakness and can cause death in the first year of life.

Charlie’s parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, successfully conducted a fundraiser of more than $1 million to take their son to the United States for experimental treatment, but their request has been denied by the London hospital and by the courts.

On June 27, the European Court of Human Rights agreed with hospital and the British courts, finding the baby’s parents’ appeal “inadmissible.” The Gards were also banned from taking Charlie to die at home.

While Charlie’s life support was to be disconnected on June 30, Connie Yates announced on Facebook that the hospital authorities had agreed to allow the parents to have a little more time with their son.

On Sunday, July 2, the Holy See Press Office director Greg Burke issued a statement in which Pope Francis called for respect for the will of Charlie Gard’s parents.

“The Holy Father follows with affection and emotion the story of Charlie Gard and expresses his own closeness to his parents,” read a July 2 statement issued by Vatican spokesman Greg Burke.

“He prays for them, wishing that their desire to accompany and care for their own child to the end will be respected.”

On Friday, the day the Charlie’s life support was initially scheduled to be disconnected, the Pope also used his Twitter account to send a clear pro-life message in the infant’s favor.

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WORLD NEWS

Charlie Gard will not be transferred to Vatican Hospital

CNA/EWTN News • July 4, 2017

Charlie Gard. (Charlie Gard’s Fight Facebook page)

Vatican City — The London hospital where Charlie Gard is living his last days has refused a transfer request from the Pediatric hospital Bambino Gesu in Rome for legal reasons.

“This is sad news,” said Mariella Enoc, President Bambino Gesu, often referred to as the “Pope’s Hospital.” The hospital had offered on Monday to transfer Charlie to their facilities from Great Ormond Street Hospital in London (UK), where the child and his family are currently staying.

London and and European courts have ruled that Charlie must be pulled from life support and that he will not be allowed to die at home.

Charlie Gard is a 10-month old suffering a rare, terminal, genetic illness. His parents have lost several legal battles in the fight to prolong the life of their son, including a request to send him to the United States for experimental treatment.

Enoc told Italian media on July 4 that he had offered the transfer after being contacted by Charlie’s mother, Connie Yates.

He added that he wanted to offer the family his support especially because of the Pope’s backing of the family.

On Sunday, July 2, the Holy See Press Office director Greg Burke issued a statement in which Pope Francis called for respect for the will of Charlie Gard’s parents.

“The Holy Father follows with affection and emotion the story of Charlie Gard and expresses his own closeness to his parents,” read a July 2 statement issued by Vatican spokesman Greg Burke.

“He prays for them, wishing that their desire to accompany and care for their own child to the end will be respected.”

On June 30, the day the Charlie’s life support was initially scheduled to be disconnected, the Pope also used his Twitter account to send a clear pro-life message in the infant’s favor.

The hospital in London agreed to allow Charlie’s life support to continue for a few more days, to allow the family more time with their son.

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WORLD NEWS

Bishop responds: No, abortion isn’t a Canadian ‘core’ value

CNA/EWTN News • July 6, 2017

(Chinnapong via Shutterstock)

Ottawa, Canada — Responding to a Canadian politician who called abortion a central aspect of the country’s human rights efforts, a local bishop said the procedure is in fact deeply harmful – especially to women.

“While the Catholic Bishops of Canada share your concern for advancing the respect and dignity of women … we feel the need to point out, with all due respect, that your statement above is erroneous, confusing, and misguided,” Bishop Douglas Crosby, president of the Canada’s Catholic Conference of Bishops, said in a June 29 letter.

The letter comes in response to a recent speech given by Canada’s Minister in Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, to the House of Commons.

“Women’s rights are human rights,” she said June 6. “That includes sexual reproductive rights and the right to safe and accessible abortions. These rights are at the core of our foreign policy.”

Bishop Douglas Crosby cited other major issues involving women’s rights that Freeland failed to mention, such as Canada’s economic partnerships with countries that allow societal oppression and outright brutality against women.

“Female infants are murdered for not being male; (countries) in which women earn less than men for the same job or where they do not enjoy the same privileges under the law, including the right to education or protection from rape, physical violence.”

He then said that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision last year to pledge $650 million in support of abortion and reproductive rights globally showed misguided priority. He compared this to the nearly $120 million pledged in response to severe food shortages, striking heavily in many parts of Africa.

The bishop noted Freeland’s statement in her speech that “it is clearly not our role to impose our values around the world. No one appointed us the world’s policemen.”

Yet imposing the ‘value’ of abortion rights offends the views of many cultures around the world and domestically, he said. Belief in an unborn child’s right to life – held by Catholics, Jews, Protestants, Hindus, Muslims, and even non-believers of good will – should be respected, the bishop added.

In his letter, Archbishop Crosby agreed with Freeland’s emphasis on Canada’s vital role in global progress, but said it must respect the rest of the world’s opinions and be conducive to the human person, both woman and child.

“If Canada’s foreign policy needs a stable ground it cannot possibly be abortion advocacy and ‘sexual reproductive rights.’ And if the dignity of women is to have a universal moral foundation it cannot be based on principles that override the rights of the unborn child.”

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WORLD NEWS

In wake of North Korea threat, bishops call for elimination of nuclear weapons

CNA/EWTN News • July 6, 2017

Nuclear bomb explosion at the Nevada Test Site on April 18, 1953. (National Nuclear Security Administration, Nevada Site Office)

Washington D.C. — Just days after North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach Alaska, bishops in the United States and Europe have called for the “total elimination of nuclear weapons.”

“Even a limited nuclear exchange would have devastating consequences for people and the planet. Tragically, human error or miscalculation could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe,” the Bishops said in a joint declaration on Thursday.

“We call upon the United States and European nations to work with other nations to map out a credible, verifiable and enforceable strategy for the total elimination of nuclear weapons.”

Entitled “Nuclear Disarmament: Seeking Human Security,” the declaration was issued to coincide with the conclusion of a meeting hosted this week by the United Nations “to negotiate a legally binding treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.”

While the United States and most European nations are not participating in the U.N. meeting, the bishops urged any country that is building up their nuclear arsenal to reconsider the effectiveness of this as a security strategy.

“… our world has become increasingly multipolar with a variety of threats reaching from terrorism, asymmetrical conflicts, cybersecurity to environmental degradation and poverty, which raises doubts about the adequacy of nuclear deterrence as an effective response to these challenges,” they said.

The also noted that building up a nuclear arms base is a waste of money, reiterating a point Pope Francis made in 2014, when he said that prioritizing spending on nuclear weapons “is a mistake and a misallocation of resources which would be far better invested in the areas of integral human development, education, health and the fight against extreme poverty.”

In another message in March 2017, Pope Francis said that peace and security were not built on a race to power and arms, but on “on justice, on integral human development, on respect for fundamental human rights, on the protection of creation, on the participation of all in public life, on trust between peoples, on the support of peaceful institutions, on access to education and health, on dialogue and solidarity.”

Francis is joined by numerous other Catholic leaders including Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II, Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI who all opposed the development of nuclear weapons.

The bishops closed their statement with another statement of Pope Francis, who said in 2014: “Nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutually assured destruction cannot be the basis for an ethics of fraternity and peaceful coexistence among peoples and states. The youth of today and tomorrow deserve far more. They deserve a peaceful world order based on the unity of the human family, grounded on respect, cooperation, solidarity and compassion. Now is the time to counter the logic of fear with the ethic of responsibility, and so foster a climate of trust and sincere dialogue.”

The statement was signed by Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich, president of the Conference of European Justice and Peace Commissions, and by Bishop Oscar Cantú, chairman of the committee on International Justice and Peace for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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U.S. NEWS

Man plows over Ten Commandments monument in Arkansas

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • June 30, 2017

(Wally Gobetz via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Little Rock, AR — When Moses smashed the stone tablets in Exodus 32, out of rage for the sins of his people, he used his bare hands.

But maybe a car would have made the task easier?

Michael Tate Reed, 32, yelled “Freedom!” as he plowed his car into a statue of the Ten Commandments placed outside the state capitol of Arkansas early in the morning of June 28, demolishing it.

The privately-funded monument, the product of a years-long heated debate about its constitutionality, had been up for fewer than 24 hours when Reed filmed himself destroying it.

Reed posted the video to his personal Facebook, where he also self-identifies as a born-again Christian and “Pentecostal Jesus Freak.”

Reed was caught in the act by an on-patrol police officer at the capitol and is being held in the Pulaski County Detention Center on charges of defacing an object of public interest, criminal trespassing and first degree criminal mischief, according to authorities.

It is his second alleged Ten-Commandment-smashing offense.

Oklahoma authorities confirmed to The Associated Press that Reed is the same man who was arrested in October 2014 for destroying Oklahoma’s Ten Commandments monument at the state Capitol with his car.

At that time, Reed self-identified as a Satanist and said that Satan had told him to smash the monument. He was charged with destruction of state property or improvements, indecent exposure, making threatening statements, reckless driving, and operating a vehicle with a revoked license in 2014.

In 2015, Reed wrote an apology for the act that published in a local Oklahoma paper, saying he was sorry and that he had had a psychotic break that drove him to destroy the monument.

“I am so sorry that this [is] all happening and I wished I could take it all back,” Reed said in a letter to Tulsa World.

Arkansas state Senator Jason Rapert, who pushed for the monument’s construction, told local media that the incident could be a call to consider the state of mental health care in Arkansas, but that it has not yet been a proven defense for Reed’s most recent act.

Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson tweeted that “resorting to property destruction is never the answer to a policy disagreement.”

The American Civil Liberties Union had opposed the building of the Arkansas monument as well as other Ten Commandments monuments at state capitols around the United States. Its construction was also opposed by the Freethinkers Society and the Satanic Temple.

After the destruction of Arkansas’ monument, the ACLU has said that they “strongly condemn any illegal act of destruction or vandalism.”

“The ACLU remains committed to seeing this unconstitutional monument struck down by the courts and safely removed through legal means,” ACLU of Arkansas Executive Director Rita Sklar said.

Monuments of the Ten Commandments have attracted controversy in the past. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a monument of the Ten Commandments in Texas was constitutional, and other federal courts have been divided on other such monuments.

Rapert said Wednesday during a Facebook live news conference that he intended to have the Arkansas monument rebuilt.

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U.S. NEWS

Cardinal Dolan: Joy is at the heart of evangelization

CNA/EWTN News • July 2, 2017

Cardinal Timothy Dolan. (Archdiocese of Boston via Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0)

Orlando, FL — As the Church continues its mission of forming disciples in the 21st century, a key component must be a witness of joy, said Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

“People may claim that they do not want faith, hope, or love. Rare is the person who does not crave joy,” the New York cardinal said July 1.

Cardinal Dolan was the homilist at the opening Mass for the Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando.

The unprecedented convocation gathered bishops, priests, consecrated religious, diocesan leaders, and representatives from Catholic ministries, parishes, and organizations. The event drew some 4,000 participants, including members of 155 dioceses and roughly 200 Catholic organizations, and 160 bishops.

Cardinal Dolan reflected on the convocation as a time to acknowledge Christ, and recognize how he “calls us to discipleship, summons us to unity, imparts to us joy, and sends us on mission.”

He pointed to Mary as “a model of discipleship, unity, joy, and mission.”

In the account of the Visitation, he recalled, Mary “has just been told by the Archangel Gabriel that she is to be the mother of our Savior. She is thus the first disciple, attentive to God’s word, open to Jesus; she is eager for unity, closeness with her kin St. Elizabeth; she goes on a mission to tell another the glad tidings of the Lord’s imminent arrival; she and Elizabeth, as well as the two babies in their wombs, Jesus and St. John the Baptist, leap for joy.”

And it is this joy, properly understood, that will attract people to the message of the Gospel, the cardinal continued.

True joy is not merely pleasure, giddiness, or “some syrupy, superficial feel-goodness,” but rather, as St. Paul teaches, a gift of the Holy Spirit.

“How we are tempted to concentrate on problems, worries, bad news, scandals, darkness in the Church. Lord knows we can’t ignore them, but neither can we be dominated by them. We cannot become, in the folksy term of Pope Francis, ‘a Church of sourpusses.’”

Cardinal Dolan noted that the theme of the convention, pulled from the title of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, is “The Joy of the Gospel.”

“In that teaching, the Holy Father proposes that discipleship united for mission will be characterized by and effective only with joy.”

The bishops agree that “a renewal of joy is essential for a deepening of Catholic vitality and confidence today,” he stressed.

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Archbishop Lori: Like Doubting Thomas, God frees us from fear for mission

CNA/EWTN News • July 3, 2017

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio. (CNA)

Orlando, FL — An encounter with the Lord frees us from sin and fear, and frees us for mission and evangelization, said Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore in his homily at the closing Mass for the USCCB’s Fortnight for Freedom.

The July 3 Mass was held during the Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando, Florida, and concluded the U.S. Bishop’s Fortnight for Freedom, a two week period of prayer for religious freedom in the United States.

The Mass was also celebrated on the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, also known as “doubting Thomas,” from whom we can learn a lot about freedom, Archbishop Lori said.

Archbishop Lori started by sharing his own moment of doubting.

When he was about 10 years old, the only working TV set in his house broke, the Archbishop recalled. Forced to live without shows like “I Love Lucy” and Fulton Sheen’s “Life is Worth Living,” he would sneak away to friends’ houses to watch TV.

Then one day, his parents told him they’d won a new TV in a raffle. But he didn’t believe them, he thought they were joking.

“It was only when the TV was delivered that I believed them,” the Archbishop said.

“Blessed are those who have not seen ‘Leave it to Beaver’ and yet still believe,” he joked.

But in the case of Thomas the Apostle, who didn’t believe the other apostles about the Risen Lord, the “stakes were much higher.”

“Thomas had been with the Lord from the beginning, heard him preach, saw the miracles, enjoyed the Lord’s friendship,” he said. But after Jesus’ crucifixion and death, it must have seemed like the end of the world to Thomas.

“So when the apostles said the Risen Lord had appeared, Thomas thought they were delusional and demanded proof. Thomas got his (proof) as the Lord invited him to touch his wounds, by which we are made whole,” Archbishop Lori said.

This encounter with the Lord set Thomas free for mission, he added. According to Church tradition, Thomas set off to evangelize India, where he didn’t know the language or the culture but he relied on the power of the Holy Spirit to spread the Gospel.

The theme of the Catholic Convocation is The Joy of the Gospel, after Pope Francis’ encyclical by the same name. Common threads of the convocation have been evangelization, mission and reaching the peripheries.

The theme of this year’s Fortnight for Freedom was “Freedom for Mission,” of which Thomas the Apostle is a good example, Archbishop Lori noted.

“Notice that it was for freedom that the Lord Jesus set Thomas free,” Archbishop Lori said.

“By breathing into Thomas the Holy Spirit, the Risen Lord set Thomas free from the yoke of sin, the Lord set Thomas free from the constraints of unbelief that lock us in a self-contained world of fear, he set Thomas free for mission, free to leave everything behind so as to bring the Gospel as a stranger in a strange land,” he said.

“Might you and I need to undergo a process of conversion not unlike that of the Apostle Thomas?” he asked.

This conversion and increase of faith frees us for mission, and allows us to better protect our freedoms, especially our religious freedoms, in a country and a world where they are increasingly threatened, he added.

When we allow the Lord to touch us and free us from sin and fear, “we are free for mission … able to engage those who have no faith or have lost their faith, engage those alienated from the Church or who are lukewarm, those who are on the cusp of holiness and vocation and mission themselves,” he said.

As Catholic University of America’s President John Garvey once told a gathering of US Bishops: “If we want to preserve our freedoms, we must love God more.”

“Yes, we must take all the steps necessary to protect our freedom, advocate for those whose freedom has been denied, we must litigate, engage political leaders and one another,” Archbishop Lori added.

“But in the end, nothing will ever be more important than evangelizing, bearing witness, teaching and fulfilling our mission to love.”

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U.S. NEWS

Cardinal DiNardo: To be active, we have to learn to be contemplative

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • July 4, 2017

The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci. (CNA)

Orlando, FL — Contemplation is the most active thing we can do if we want to work for the Lord, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo said in his homily on July 4.

Which might seem counter-intuitive, considering that he was addressing hundreds of bishops and thousands of Catholic leaders gathered in Orlando, Florida for the final Mass of the Catholic Convocation.

But contemplation is action, the Cardinal of Galveston-Houston said, and the Gospel of John shows us this.

In John 17, Jesus prays aloud for the apostles and for the Church to his Father during the Last Supper. He prays for their unity and for those they will evangelize, those they will meet once they are sent on mission.

The 12 apostles, gathered at the table, are “mute,” observing and listening to Jesus, Cardinal DiNardo noted.

“On this (4th of July) day of barbeques and fireworks, bands and parties, the Gospel text is striking. … the most single contemplative chapter in the New Testament is read for us and proclaimed to us as we’re going forth,” he said.

“Today, Jesus lets us overhear his intimacy with the Father,” Cardinal DiNardo said, the Father on whom he leans during his mission and during his passion and death.

He also pointed out another passage in the Gospel of John, during the multiplication of loaves, during which Jesus teaches his apostles another lesson about mission.

During the passage, found in Chapter 6, the apostles see the great crowds gathered around Jesus and despair at how they are going to feed them.

“Jesus says - you give them something to eat. What do the apostles do?” Cardinal DiNardo asked.

“It’s apostolic, it’s gone on ever since. What do they do? They whine,” he said, laughing.

“We don’t have enough, we don’t have bread,” the apostles say.

“Jesus responds - not wagging a finger of disapproval of their less than excellent conduct, but he just looks at them and says, just give me what you have.”

“Jesus gives so much power to his friends, it’s amazing how he lets us work,” he said.

From their meager offerings, Jesus is able to feed the multitudes. In the same way, we are called to offer what we can to the Lord, and expect that he will multiply our efforts, he added.

“Imagine the gallons we’ll have leftover if we do it at the Lord’s word,” Cardinal DiNardo said.

And learn to distinguish the different between true action “and just running around,” he added.

“We are in a very significant time in our church in this country - and this reminds me of how contemplative we’re going to be if we want to be active. Never are you more active than when the word of God is overpowering you. You are seated there, in God’s loving grace, and you realize how much God can let you do.”

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U.S. NEWS

New bill expands already-liberal abortion laws in Oregon

CNA/EWTN News • July 7, 2017

(Unsplash)

Portland, OR — A new bill in Oregon would expand the state’s already-liberal laws, requiring insurance companies to pay for abortions and other reproductive services at zero cost to the patient.

House Bill 3391, or the “Reproductive Health Equity Act Of 2017,” requires that insurance companies provide coverage for abortions and reproductive services to undocumented immigrants, and regardless of income or gender identity.

It allows for almost $500,000 to be spend on cost-free abortions and reproductive health services for immigrants who previously would have been ineligible for those services under the Oregon Health Plan.

In the past 14 years, according to state health records, already-expansive abortion laws dictated that almost $24 million in state funds were spent on more than 52,000 abortions.

The bill is also uniquely expansive in that, while some states allow for cost-free abortions that are deemed medically necessary, the Oregon bill allows for coverage of abortions for virtually any reason, including sex-selective and late-term abortions.

While some religious exemptions are provided for, such as in the case of churches and some religious non-profits per federal law, the bill states that the government would step in to pay for coverage in the case of such gaps.

It also codifies the right to abortion access, even if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned. Oregon is the only state without current restrictions added to provisions of Roe v. Wade.

The bill passed the Democrat-controlled Oregon Senate on Wednesday, and now heads to the desk of Democratic Gov. Kate Brown.

The liberal law comes at a time when President Donald Trump’s administration is passing restrictive legislation on abortion and reproductive services, including allowing states to withhold federal family planning funds from Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.

After the vote, Senate Republicans issued a statement saying the bill is “nothing more than a political statement and a political gift card to Planned Parenthood that brought unnecessary drama and divisiveness to the end of the legislative session.”

Bill Diss, leader of pro-life group Precious Children of Portland, called the proposed law “fundamentally an abortion bill that will boost the coffers of abortion providers like Planned Parenthood,” according to Oregon’s Catholic Sentinel.

Diss said other portions of the bill could be accomplished “without further funding and promoting the killing of unborn children.”

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FEATURES

As demographics change, how will the U.S. Church respond?

by Adelaide Mena (CNA/EWTN News) • July 2, 2017

(Public domain)

Orlando, FL — The rapidly changing realities of the Catholic Church in the U.S. bring a host of challenges and unknowns, but also great opportunities for evangelization and engagement, said experts at a gathering of Catholic leaders.

“The future of U.S. Catholicism is being forged in areas once not central to U.S. Catholic life,” said Dr. Hosffman Ospino, associate professor of theology and religious education at Boston College. “Are we paying attention?”

Dr. Ospino spoke at the “Convocation of Catholic Leaders: The Joy of the Gospel in America” event on July 2 in Orlando, Florida.

He explained to more than 3,500 attendees from parishes and Catholic organizations around the country how the face of the Church in the United States is rapidly changing. In particular, he pointed to the rapid growth throughout the nation, particularly in the South and West of Hispanic communities. He also noted swift growth of other faith communities, particularly Asian Catholic communities and, within some localities, communities of immigrants from Africa.

These changes have swiftly changed the face of American Catholic life. Fifty years ago, over 80 percent of American Catholics were of European descent. Today, that number is less than 50 percent, with 40 percent of all Catholics claiming Latino heritage, 5 percent of Asian or Pacific Islander descent, 4 percent African-American and 1 percent of Catholics of Native American descent.

Among Catholics under the age of 30, those numbers are even more diverse.

To address these very shifts in American Catholic life, Catholics should imagine what the future of the Church will look like, Ospino said.

“What kind of community of faith will our children and grandchildren inherit?” he asked, encouraging Catholics in attendance to consider the best stories and guidance the Church can offer.

Ospino also suggested Catholics reimagine their relationship with the public square. He warned that the ‘culture wars’ which have been a marker of American discourse in recent decades have hampered, in some cases, the Church’s ability to speak effectively to communities on the margins.

“It has become impossible to speak about anything because one is expected to take an ideological position to make a point,” he commented.

“The Gospel, my friends, is not an ideology, to be a co-opted to advance an ideological position. The Gospel is a message of life and communion,” Ospino said to applause.

Catholics should look for other means of engaging and reaching these growing segments of the Church, and participate in the U.S. Bishops’ National Encuentro program as part of this engagement, he continued.

Dr. Ospino’s talk was followed by a panel discussion, describing the different ways the Church is growing and changing in the United States.

Jesuit Father Thomas P. Gaunt, SJ, executive director of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, explained that demographic changes in the United States do not apply just to Latino Catholics, but to all sections of the Church in the United States. He noted that populations of U.S. Catholic life are shifting away from the historic centers in the Northeast to booming job markets in the South and West. In addition, he noted, shifts are impacting African-American and Asian communities.

Meanwhile, according to CARA’s research, nearly a third of U.S. Catholics are not connected to a local church. While this disparity is a sign for needed improvement, Fr. Gaunt suggested that this gap can also be seen as a resource.

“How do we re-invite and re-engage them once more?” he wondered.

Kerry Weber, executive editor of America magazine, also pointed to these communities on the peripheries and noted that most of these communities have been engaged in the Church for decades or even centuries. The challenge for Catholic journalists, she said, is to show the diversity of the Church that has always been here.

Helen Alvare, professor of law at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, pointed to the great strides the Church has made both in promoting its view of the human person in the public square and improving her own witness to the living out of respect for the human person in daily life.

On one hand, she said, “there is an embracing of the role of women in the Church and in the public square,” and embracing of men’s integral role in raising children in the home. Furthermore, “there is a huge emerging consensus that the Church’s beautiful way of marriage sex and the family is freeing for all people.”

However, there have also been challenges. She noted that in the past several decades, challenges to the family have been a major contributor to social inequality. In addition, she said, the Church has experienced “profound losses of ideas” and understanding of teaching.

She urged participants not to be afraid to share the Church’s message and vision for the human person – even as it confronts the messages and priorities of the secular world.

“Since when has the Church’s message anywhere not been scandalizing to the world?” she remarked.

At the same time, however, Catholics should articulate the fullness and meaning of the faith, and not rely purely on constitutional and legal arguments. ”We have to tell them what we’re going to use our religious liberty for,” she insisted.

Franciscan Father Agustino Torres, CFR, works extensively with Latino youth in New York City and explained that Latino youth – one of the largest growing populations of Catholics in the United States, “don’t want just a program,” but an example of the Church’s message. He pointed to the Church’s teaching on love and sexuality as a concrete example of doctrine that youth can apply to their lives, finding Christ in the process.

“It makes the Church relevant to young people,” Fr. Torres said.

Daniel Owens, who spoke with his wife Melanie on the powerful encounter of love provided in the Church’s message of chastity, echoed Fr. Torres’ insights, saying that he sees a “real opportunity” in sharing the message of the Gospel, and added that the Theology of the Body has the unique ability to speak to the questions many youth face today.

Outside of any specific program or message, however, Fr. Torres stressed the importance of encounter, particularly when reaching out to young people. Within many cultures, particularly Latino youth, young people feel torn between different cultures and identities asking for their attention.

“If the Church were to say ‘you belong here, this is your home,’ you’re going to get an army of missionary disciples,” he said.

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FEATURES

Bishop Barron: How to evangelize the ‘nones’

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • July 4, 2017

(Karl Fredrickson via Unsplash)

Orlando, FL — The way we evangelize should grab the world by the shoulders and shake it out of its apathy, Bishop Robert Barron told a crowd of Catholic leaders Tuesday.

Evangelization is especially urgent as the ‘nones’ - the number of the population who do not identify with a religion, continues to grow, he said.

Bishop Barron, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and well-known evangelizer for Word on Fire, addressed the crowd of Catholic bishops and leaders gathered at the Catholic Convocation in Orlando, Florida through a live video feed on July 4, the last day of the gathering.

“We do have a fight on our hands, but the great saints of our church have always loved a good fight, and we should too.”

In a talk entitled “Equipping Evangelizers,” the bishop with more than 15 years of evangelizing experience said that there are three main challenges and three main opportunities that Catholic evangelists face today.

The first challenge: Scientism

The culture’s embrace of “scientism,” or the philosophical belief that the only valuable knowledge is scientific knowledge, is one of the great challenges that evangelists face today, Bishop Barron said.

“Let me be clear: the Catholic Church has nothing against the sciences, the church stands with the sciences at their best,” he said. “What the Church opposes is scientism, or the reduction of all knowledge to the scientific form of knowledge.”

Actually, scientism as a philosophy is self-refuting, he noted.

“Scientism is not discoverable through the scientific method. Where did you empirically verify and test through experimentation that only scientific knowledge is valuable? Scientism is a philosophical position and therefore self-refuting,” he said.

But it can be challenge for evangelizers, who are speaking to the world about God.

“When we (as a culture) isolate ourselves from all references to the transcendent, we do damage to the human heart, we do damage to the human spirit,” he said.

The second challenge: The culture of “meh”

There’s a rampant apathy in today’s society, especially among young people, who have been formed not to embrace anything as objectively true, Bishop Barron said.

“If there is no objective truth, no objective value, what that produces is a culture of ‘meh,’ or as the kids say, ‘whatever’” Bishop Barron said.

But objective truths and values form a firm foundation that sends us on mission, he said, pointing to an example used by St. John Henry Newman, who said a river gets its energy and verve from its firm foundation.

“Knock down the banks, and what’s going to happen? That river is going to open up into a big, lazy lake. Placid, with no energy, no purpose,” Bishop Barron said.

“Our society today is like a big lazy lake, all of us floating individually, tolerating each other, not getting in each other’s way, but without energy, without purpose.”

But evangelization, the declaration of the good news of Jesus, is the antithesis of this apathy, he said.

“Once you’ve been grasped by the power of God … you know where to go and you do it with energy.”

The third challenge: The culture of self-determination

What was once a fringe philosophical idea known as voluntarism, which stemmed from philosophers like Nietzsche and other recent existentialists, is now mainstream thought among the millennial generation in the United States, Bishop Barron said.

The core belief of this philosophy, embraced widely by young people, is that freedom defines identity, he noted.

“My freedom comes first, and then I determine essence, who I am, the meaning of my life. It’s all based on my freedom - my sexuality, my gender, purpose of my life is all up to me,” he explained.

But to evangelize is to say that “your life is not about you, your life is not up to you,” Bishop Barron said. “Remember the ecstatic expression of St. Paul: it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. When you’ve been seized by the power of Jesus Christ, your little ego-drama becomes pretty unimportant,” he said.

The Bishop then presented three opportunities for evangelization based on the three transcendentals: truth, goodness and beauty.

The first opportunity: An intelligent truth

“I hate dumbed-down Catholicism,” Bishop Barron emphatically told the audience.

“What do I mean by that? It puts a huge stress on the superficial, the ‘banners and balloons Catholicism’ as I call it. We are a smart religion. When we don’t express Catholicism in a smart way, people fall away,” he said.

In particular, the Bishop urged catechists, apologists and evangelists to equip themselves with a good grasp on one of the great arguments for the existence of God. Young people often don’t have a robust understanding of God beyond a vague and irrelevant deity, he noted.

His favorite argument is based on contingency - that existence flows from God, and everything on the world gets its existence from him, because nothing created itself.

“The God that I’m talking about sustains the whole universe moment to moment the way a singer sustains a song. Continual creation - that’s the God the great Church talks about, that we must convey to our young people,” he said.

The second opportunity: The goodness of radical Christians

When the Christian life is embraced fully and radically, it’s goodness stands out to the world, Bishop Barron said.

The best example of this in the 20th century was Mother Teresa, who evangelized the world by her radical witness of goodness - caring for others indiscriminately, he said.

Throughout the history of the Church, he said, it was the “goodness and radicality of the Christian life that got the attention of the world,” through great saints like Benedict, Dominic and Francis.

“We need to recover what all these great figures found - this splendidly radical form of the Christian life. When it’s lived publicly, it evangelizes,” he said.

The third opportunity: Authentic beauty

Perhaps the best opportunity from which to start evangelization is with the authentic, objective beauty of the faith, Bishop Barron said.

And he’s not just talking about something subjectively satisfying like, say, deep-dish Chicago pizza, he said.

“The objectively valuable and beautiful is not like that, it’s something so intrinsically good and beautiful that it seizes us, it stops us in our tracks - something called aesthetic arrest,” he said.

It’s an easy place to start evangelizing because it’s as simple as “show, don’t tell.”

“Just show people the beauty of Catholicism - show them Cathedrals, show them the Sistine Chapel, show them Mother Teresa’s sisters at work. Don’t tell them what to think and how to behave, show the beauty of Catholicism, and that has an evangelical power,” he said.

“There’s nothing more beautiful than the dying and rising of Jesus Christ,” he said, and the apostles in the New Testament communicate this with a “grab-you-by-the-shoulders” urgency.

“These are people who have been seized by something so powerful and so overwhelming that they want to grab the world by the shoulders and tell them about it,” he said. “We need to be filled with the same ‘grab-you-by-the-shoulders’ enthusiasm” about the beauty of our faith, he added.

“Yes we face obstacles, but the saints always loved a good fight, and we should love a good fight too, because we go forth with this great truth, goodness, and beauty of Jesus Christ.”

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FEATURES

Movie review: ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’

by Carl Kozlowski • July 7, 2017

Even in a cinematic world overrun with sequels, reboots and superheroes, Spider-Man stands out as one character particularly at risk of over-exposure. After all, the new film “Spider-Man: Homecoming” marks the start of the third series of Spidey films in just 15 years.

Following the Tobey Maguire trilogy, which yielded two genre classics before falling apart with the overstuffed third film, and two mediocre “Amazing Spider-Man” films, “Homecoming” brings a fresh sense of youthful energy and fun to the mix. It draws much of its charm from ace casting, with Tom Holland bringing a lovably, geeky teen awkwardness to Spidey’s alter ego Peter Parker, and Michael Keaton serving up his unique mix of manic energy and working-class heart in the role of villain Adrian Toomes, aka Vulture.

The film opens on Adrian, an average-guy contractor hoping to make a fortune off of salvaging alien-weaponry shrapnel found amid the rubble from the Battle of New York in the first “Avengers” movie. He plans to sell the pieces off for scientific development, a job that could set his family and workers up for life – until federal agents seize the site.

With a small stash of the shrapnel hidden from the feds, Adrian vows to fight back by making money ruthlessly off what he has left. Jumping to eight years later, he and his henchmen have developed a slew of nasty laser-based weapons they commit robberies with and sell on the black market. Adrian also has created a wing-laden flight suit for himself that has earned him the Vulture nickname, and years of crime have given the once-simple working-class guy a dangerous edge.

Meanwhile, Peter is back in high school sophomore mode after his Avenger escapades in “Captain America: Civil War,” dreading his days in class and acting as a goofball vigilante by night while living with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). He constantly begs Tony Stark, aka Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), and his assistant Happy (Jon Favreau) to re-enlist him in heroics, but they don’t quite take him seriously despite having given him a souped-up new Spidey suit.

When Spider-Man makes the news battling a team of burglars using Adrian’s souped-up weaponry to rob ATMs, he suddenly draws both Tony’s and Adrian’s attention. At the same time, he has to contend with the fact his funny ultra-nerd friend Ned (Jacob Batalon, in a breakout role) has discovered he’s Spider-Man and figure out how to woo Liz (Laura Harrier), the beautiful senior girl of his dreams, amid homecoming season.

“Homecoming” uses humor and occasional moments of teenage angst to set a tone that tells the story expertly from Peter’s youthful frame of mind. While there are a couple of spectacular action sequences set at the Washington Monument and aboard the Staten Island Ferry, the film also scores points with an inventive chase through suburbia and the personality clashes found amid his high school social scene.

The scenes focusing on Peter’s struggles as an outcast are a great homage to the spirit of John Hughes’ teen movie classics, with the suburban chase scene even paralleling the climactic run home at the end of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” While that tone takes away some of the intensity found in other superhero films like “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” it makes for a refreshing change of pace and marks “Homecoming” as a superhero film that families can enjoy along with the fanboys.

As in most Marvel films outside of the R-rated anomaly “Deadpool,” foul language is almost nonexistent, and the action here never goes too terrifying or over-the-top. There are a few brief crude jabs at Peter by a school bully, but those should be easy to forget amid the vast majority of good clean fun to be had here.

Peter’s sense of vulnerability goes a long way towards making up for Holland’s initially annoying performance, in which his high-pitched voice and constantly snarky comments make a couple of the early fight scenes more goofy than exciting. Just like Peter, Holland rises to the occasion as the film goes on, particularly in a tense man-to-man showdown with Adrian that arrives with a stunning plot twist.

Keaton makes Adrian one of the best villains yet in the Marvel universe by creating a three-dimensional persona as a man who wants to provide for his family and friends, but was simply pushed too far. With Tony largely used as Peter’s mentor, Downey fits his role like a glove but takes a back seat to much of the action.

With six writers sharing the credit, “Homecoming” could have been a disastrous hodgepodge. Yet that team, and director Jon Watts (whose only previous film was the 2015 indie flick “Cop Car”), have pulled off a Marvel of a movie that has as many laughs as thrills and accomplishes the unlikely task of making the endlessly rehashed Spider-Man feel fresh again.

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 • JULY 9, 2017

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Zec 9:9-10; NRSVCE)

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!

Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!

Lo, your king comes to you;

triumphant and victorious is he,

humble and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim

and the war-horse from Jerusalem;

and the battle bow shall be cut off,

and he shall command peace to the nations;

his dominion shall be from sea to sea,

and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13-14; NRSVCE)

R: (cf. 1) My God and King, I will bless your name forever.

I will extol you, my God and King,

and bless your name forever and ever.

Every day I will bless you,

and praise your name forever and ever.

R: My God and King, I will bless your name forever.

The Lord is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

The Lord is good to all,

and his compassion is over all that he has made.

R: My God and King, I will bless your name forever.

All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,

and all your faithful shall bless you.

They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom,

and tell of your power.

R: My God and King, I will bless your name forever.

The Lord is faithful in all his words,

and gracious in all his deeds.

The Lord upholds all who are falling,

and raises up all who are bowed down.

R: My God and King, I will bless your name forever.

Second Reading (Rom 8:9, 11-13; NRSVCE)

You are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

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.”

MONDAY • JULY 10, 2017

Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Gn 28:10-22a; NRSVCE)

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place — and I did not know it!” And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house.”

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 91:1-2, 3-4, 14-15ab; NRSVCE)

R: (see 2b) In you, my God, I place my trust.

You who live in the shelter of the Most High,

who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,

will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;

my God, in whom I trust.”

R: In you, my God, I place my trust.

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler

and from the deadly pestilence;

he will cover you with his pinions,

and under his wings you will find refuge.

R: In you, my God, I place my trust.

Those who love me, I will deliver;

I will protect those who know my name.

When they call to me, I will answer them;

I will be with them in trouble.

R: In you, my God, I place my trust.

Gospel Reading (Mt 9:18-26; NRSVCE)

While Jesus was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the report of this spread throughout that district.

TUESDAY • JULY 11, 2017

Memorial of Saint Benedict

First Reading (Gn 32:23-33; NRSVCE)

During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 17:1b, 2-3, 6-7ab, 8b and 15; NRSVCE)

R: (15a) I shall behold your face in righteousness, O Lord.

Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry;

give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit.

R: I shall behold your face in righteousness, O Lord.

From you let my vindication come;

let your eyes see the right.

If you try my heart, if you visit me by night,

if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me.

R: I shall behold your face in righteousness, O Lord.

I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;

incline your ear to me, hear my words.

Wondrously show your steadfast love,

O savior of those who seek refuge

from their adversaries at your right hand.

R: I shall behold your face in righteousness, O Lord.

Hide me in the shadow of your wings.

I shall behold your face in righteousness;

when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness.

R: I shall behold your face in righteousness, O Lord.

Gospel Reading (Mt 9:32-38; NRSVCE)

A demoniac who was mute was brought to Jesus. And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke; and the crowds were amazed and said, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.”

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

WEDNESDAY • JULY 12, 2017

Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Gn 41:55-57; 42:5-7a, 17-24a; NRSVCE)

When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do.” And since the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all the world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine became severe throughout the world.

Thus the sons of Israel were among the other people who came to buy grain, for the famine had reached the land of Canaan.

Now Joseph was governor over the land; it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly to them. Then he put them all together in prison for three days.

On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here where you are imprisoned. The rest of you shall go and carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me. Thus your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they agreed to do so. They said to one another, “Alas, we are paying the penalty for what we did to our brother; we saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this anguish has come upon us.” Then Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to wrong the boy? But you would not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.” They did not know that Joseph understood them, since he spoke with them through an interpreter. He turned away from them and wept.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 33:2-3, 10-11, 18-19; NRSVCE)

R: (22) Let your steadfast love be upon us, O Lord, even as we hope in you.

Praise the Lord with the lyre;

make melody to him with the harp of ten strings.

Sing to him a new song;

play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

R: Let your steadfast love be upon us, O Lord, even as we hope in you.

The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;

he frustrates the plans of the peoples.

The counsel of the Lord stands forever,

the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

R: Let your steadfast love be upon us, O Lord, even as we hope in you.

Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,

on those who hope in his steadfast love,

to deliver their soul from death,

and to keep them alive in famine.

R: Let your steadfast love be upon us, O Lord, even as we hope in you.

Gospel Reading (Mt 10:1-7; NRSVCE)

Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’”

THURSDAY • JULY 13, 2017

Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Gn 44:18-21, 23b-29; 45:1-5; NRSVCE)

Judah stepped up to Joseph and said, “O my lord, let your servant please speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant; for you are like Pharaoh himself. My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead; he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’ Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I may set my eyes on him.’ Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more.’ When we went back to your servant my father we told him the words of my lord. And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ we said, ‘We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother goes with us, will we go down; for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons; one left me, and I said, Surely he has been torn to pieces; and I have never seen him since. If you take this one also from me, and harm comes to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in sorrow to Sheol.’”

Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.”

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21; NRSVCE)

R: (5a) Remember the wonderful works the Lord has done.

When the Lord summoned famine against the land,

and broke every staff of bread,

he had sent a man ahead of them,

Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

R: Remember the wonderful works the Lord has done.

His feet were hurt with fetters,

his neck was put in a collar of iron;

until what he had said came to pass,

the word of the Lord kept testing him.

R: Remember the wonderful works the Lord has done.

The king sent and released him;

the ruler of the peoples set him free.

He made him lord of his house,

and ruler of all his possessions.

R: Remember the wonderful works the Lord has done.

Gospel Reading (Mt 10:7-15; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.”

FRIDAY • JULY 14, 2017

Memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha

First Reading (Gn 46:1-7, 28-30; NRSVCE)

When Israel set out on his journey with all that he had and came to Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel in visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again; and Joseph’s own hand shall close your eyes.”

Then Jacob set out from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. They also took their livestock and the goods that they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and they came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him, his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters; all his offspring he brought with him into Egypt.

Israel sent Judah ahead to Joseph to lead the way before him into Goshen. When they came to the land of Goshen, Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. He presented himself to him, fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. Israel said to Joseph, “I can die now, having seen for myself that you are still alive.”

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 37:3-4, 18-19, 27-28, 39-40; NRSVCE)

R: (39a) The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord.

Trust in the Lord, and do good;

so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.

Take delight in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

R: The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord.

The Lord knows the days of the blameless,

and their heritage will abide forever;

they are not put to shame in evil times,

in the days of famine they have abundance.

R: The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord.

Depart from evil, and do good;

so you shall abide forever.

For the Lord loves justice;

he will not forsake his faithful ones.

R: The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord.

The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;

he is their refuge in the time of trouble.

The Lord helps them and rescues them;

he rescues them from the wicked, and saves them,

because they take refuge in him.

R: The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord.

Gospel Reading (Mt 10:16-23; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”

SATURDAY • JULY 15, 2017

Memorial of Saint Bonaventure

First Reading (Gn 49:29-32; 50:15-26a; NRSVCE)

Jacob charged his sons, saying to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my ancestors — in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave in the field at Machpelah, near Mamre, in the land of Canaan, in the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried; there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried; and there I buried Leah — the field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites.”

Now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?” So they approached Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died, ‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also wept, fell down before him, and said, “We are here as your slaves.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them.

So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father’s household; and Joseph lived one hundred ten years. Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation; the children of Machir son of Manasseh were also born on Joseph’s knees.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die; but God will surely come to you, and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” So Joseph made the Israelites swear, saying, “When God comes to you, you shall carry up my bones from here.” And Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old.

Responsorial Psalm (Ps 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7; NRSVCE)

R: (see Psalm 69:33) Let the oppressed be glad; let their hearts revive.

O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,

make known his deeds among the peoples.

Sing to him, sing praises to him;

tell of all his wonderful works.

R: Let the oppressed be glad; let their hearts revive.

Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

Seek the Lord and his strength;

seek his presence continually.

R: Let the oppressed be glad; let their hearts revive.

O offspring of his servant Abraham,

children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

He is the Lord our God;

his judgments are in all the earth.

R: Let the oppressed be glad; let their hearts revive.

Gospel Reading (Mt 10:24-33; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.”