St. Paul, Minn., Jan 10, 2017 / 06:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A Somali couple with three children is seeking a new life in Minnesota thanks to a Catholic Charities’ resettlement program that cites a Christian imperative for its work. “Now the family is together and thankful for their new home. While they are learning about Minnesota and adjusting to the cold weather, they have a place to live and food in the cupboards,” Julia Jenson, Catholic Charities St. Paul-Minneapolis director of external affairs and communications, told CNA. The family comes from the Nakivale refugee camp in Uganda, which hosts 100,000 Somalis who have fled conflict at home. The Catholic agency’s case management staff has helped them and other refugees find affordable housing, helped their children enroll in school, and helped them find English language classes and medical care. “We are the frontline for helping them find a place to live, establish a relationship with a landlord… getting them established with basic food and clothing, helping their kids get connected to school, helping them get connected to the available public benefits,” said Laurie Ohmann, senior vice president of client services and community partnerships at Catholic Charities of St. Paul-Minneapolis. According to Ohmann, a refugee is a “stranger in a foreign land.” They have very basic needs like a connection to someone they trust. “I think that’s one of the first things we offer them,” she told CNA. For Ohmann, the agency’s motive for refugee resettlement is clear. “It’s an issue of human dignity and supporting their participation in our economic and cultural life,” she said. She cited the principles of Catholic social teaching and Pope Francis’ prominence in “welcoming the stranger and working with the poor and the vulnerable in our community.” The agency helps refugees fleeing some form of persecution or violence. Most people the agency has recently resettled have been from Somalia or from the Burmese Karen ethnic group who are fleeing conflicts at home. It helped resettle 317 refugees in the federal fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, while State of Minnesota figures indicate about 2,500 refugees arrived in the state from overseas from Jan. 1-Oct. 31, 2016. “It’s amazing to me to see what they are escaping and also the environment in which they’re living when they’re in some of these large refugee camps,” Ohmann said. Most resettled refugees already have some personal tie to the U.S. Sometimes they can rely on these personal ties, but other times they lack support. The agency has been working in refugee support since the close of World War II. At present, the agency contracts with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and reaches an agreement about the number of people to resettle. Catholic Charities of Winona also helps resettle refugees in Minnesota. Ohmann acknowledged some Americans’ safety concerns about refugees. “I’ve always believed it’s really important to name the fear, and to see some facts that help place your fear in context,” she said. “I know that people are very worried about the vetting requirements of refugees.” She said part of Catholic Charities’ practice has been to help people understand the vetting process. “If folks believe some of the hyperbole, they wouldn’t understand that there’s been a lot of background checking before someone ever comes here,” Ohmann said. Sometimes refugees face challenges in integrating into U.S. society. “Like other resettlement agencies around the country, Catholic Charities is doing its best to help refugees get on their feet within the first 90 days of their arrival to Minnesota,” Ohmann added. “Given the trauma they've endured and the significant language and cultural shifts, all refugees face challenges in making ends meet and in adjusting to life in the U.S. for some period of time.” “From our experience, most refugees – with time – become integrated members of our community,” she said. Among those aided by Catholic Charities affiliates was Abdul Razak Ali Artan, the 20-year-old who in November drove a car into a crowd at Ohio State University then started to stab passersby before he was shot and killed by a campus police officer. The attacker hurt 11 people, one critically. Artan had come to Dallas as a refugee from Somalia in June 2014 and stayed in Dallas with his six siblings and his mother for about three weeks before moving to Columbus, Ohio. They had been aided by Catholic Charities of Dallas after vetting by the U.S. State Department. Dave Woodyard, the Dallas agency’s president and CEO, said there was nothing that stood out about Artan during his brief stay there. “We help hundreds of people over the years and thousands are coming to America through all types of different agencies to seek comfort and aid and unfortunately bad things can happen in any walk of life and this is an example of one horrific action,” he said, according to Fox4News.com. Ohmann said that refugees are “the most thoroughly vetted and screened people to come to the U.S.” and face the highest level of scrutiny. “Any additional changes that might limit admission solely based on national origin, race or religious affiliation would be against the values of the immigrant nation of the United States,” she said. “Catholic Social Teaching invites us to join in solidarity with others who are vulnerable and to see them as members of one human family,” she added. “Refugees have suffered tremendously. Our nation was founded to receive the tired, the poor and those yearning to breathe free. Refugees are yearning to be free people. They are source of great opportunity for this nation and will continue to contribute greatly to our country as refugees have before them.”   Read more

Washington D.C., Jan 10, 2017 / 03:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- With a recent gift of more than 600 handmade leather manuscripts, the Catholic University of America is now home to one of the most important collections of Ethiopian religious manuscripts in t... Read more

Washington D.C., Jan 10, 2017 / 12:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- You may not have heard of it, but a group of members in Congress advocates for public prayer and religious freedom amid some of the most pressing concerns to people of religious belief today. The Congressional Prayer Caucus, founded in 2005, announced Monday that it will be getting a new co-chair. “Prayer is a source of strength and hope for so many Americans – a source we must recognize and protect,” Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) stated after being selected Jan. 9 to serve as the House co-chair of the caucus. “Though politics can be divisive at times, prayer should be a uniting force for Congress and for our nation. I look forward to serving the caucus and fighting to protect one of the foundations of our First Amendment,” Walker continued. What is the Congressional Prayer Caucus and what is its purpose? There are hundreds of member caucuses, committees, and taskforces on Capitol Hill that pursue various legislative goals in the U.S. Congress, from the Congressional Black Caucus to the House Freedom Caucus. The Congressional Prayer Caucus, founded in 2005 by former Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), advocates for the free exercise of religion in the U.S. In the last congressional term, it had over 90 members from both parties and both houses of Congress. After Rep. Forbes’ time in Congress ended this past year when he lost his re-election bid to a primary challenger, Rep. Walker was picked to take his place as House co-chair. Walker has previous served in Christian ministry, including at Lawndale Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C. “Freedom of conscience is part of who we are as a nation, and we must preserve this fundamental freedom in our nation. That's why I founded the Prayer Caucus,” Forbes stated. “Today, the strength and size of the Caucus is a testament to the importance of protecting and preserving our nation's Judeo-Christian heritage.” The Senate co-chair is Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), who has spoken out for religious freedom both in the U.S. and internationally. He co-sponsored the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 2016 that was signed into law in December, and led a move to have language changed in a government naturalization study guide from “freedom of worship” to “freedom of religion.” Some examples of the caucus’ work in past years include advocating for the freedom of religious groups and charities to serve and evangelize in public places such as secular college campuses or military hospitals, defending the freedom of non-profits to make employment decisions based on religion, and working to ensure that “In God We Trust” remains the U.S. national motto. Some of the caucus’ goals for 2017 will be religious freedom cases of schools and non-profits. They will be advocating for protections for doctors and hospitals who conscientiously refuse to provide services such as abortions or contraceptives. They will also push to ensure that religious universities are protected from discrimination lawsuits in their hiring decisions and from supposed Title IX infractions. Perhaps the highest-profile religious freedom case today would be the lawsuit of the Little Sisters of the Poor against the HHS contraception mandate’s “accommodation” which the Supreme Court sent back to the lower courts, instructing both sides to work out a solution. Other cases involve government regulations that conflict with the freedom of religious schools to operate according to their beliefs. For example, Wyoming Catholic College cut off its reliance on federal funding for student loans and grants in order not be subject to Title IX anti-discrimination interpretations that could force any school receiving federal funding to take actions that would violate their religious mission. In another case, guidance from the Obama administration last year instructed schools to, in accordance with Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, “treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex,” which school districts or parents could find morally objectionable. In a recent case, the administration’s mandate that doctors and hospitals perform gender-transition procedures and abortions – and that religious groups cover these procedures in their health plans -- was challenged in court by the Catholic Benefits Association and the Diocese of Fargo. “By redefining ‘sex’ to mean both ‘gender identity’ and ‘termination of pregnancy,’ the Obama administration is not only trying to sidestep Congress and impose radical new healthcare mandates on hospitals and employers, it is creating a moral problem for Catholic employers that must be addressed,” Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, chair of the Catholic Benefits Association, stated. Read more

New Haven, Conn., Jan 9, 2017 / 09:44 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Religious freedom continues to enjoy strong backing from most Americans, a new survey says. “Majorities of Americans – regardless of party – have embraced religious freedom a... Read more

San Antonio, Texas, Jan 9, 2017 / 03:27 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- It’s not every day that 13,000 college students come together to pray, participate in the sacraments, and learn more about their faith. But that’s exactly what happened last week, as students from more than 500 colleges across the country and around the world traveled to San Antonio, Texas for the SEEK 2017 conference. Presented by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), the Jan. 3-7 conference gave young people the opportunity for fellowship, worship and talks by international Catholic speakers. “It’s kind of encouraging to see that there’s people trying just like you are,” said Cynthia Lopez, a sophomore at Northern Arizona University. Lopez told CNA that she was not initially going to attend the conference. She signed up for the biennial event on the last day of registration because her campus’ FOCUS Missionary invited her. “Sometimes you do feel like you’re alone in the world,” Lopez said, “like you’re the only college student trying to be holy, but it’s like no you aren’t, look around you.” “It’s hard to be holy and saintly at a secular university,” she said. The SEEK 2017 conference, she added, taught her to build up a support system. Melissa Golus, a senior at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas said SEEK 2017 is “giving you the tools that you need to know in order to go back to your college, even if you’re the only one at your campus that has that faith, it’s okay. It’s okay for you to go out and maybe invite other people to join you.” In response to being surrounded with so many other young people, Golus said, “It’s amazing.” “You don’t see that kind of thing in this world, like, this is the kind of stuff that’s put on the hush hush because it’s amazing to see this many people that passionate about God.” The theme of this year’s SEEK conference was “What Moves You.” Each day began with Mass and more than 300 priests concelebrated with the archbishops in attendance. Students then broke off into separate women’s and men’s sessions to engage in a fun battle of the sexes and learn more about authentic masculinity and femininity. Throughout the afternoon, the students were able to visit various vocational and ministry-related booths set up around the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. They also attended breakout sessions which allowed them to hear from more than 35 prominent Catholic speakers about relatable topics such as “Who Am I to Judge? - How To Respond To Relativism With Logic and Love.” In Jeff Cavins’ two talks: “Jesus & the Modern-Day Disciple” and “How to Read the Bible as a Disciple,” the Biblical scholar stressed the importance of creating a personal relationship with Christ and seeing Him in everyday life. “I started to realize that many people today don’t have in their mind a picture of what it means to be a disciple in a practical way,” he told CNA. Cavins said one of the things that young people are missing is the personal relationship with God. “That part of being conscious of the fact that I am really following him through everyday, that He is with me, and that this isn’t make up stuff. I’m not making stuff up. It’s not theory. He’s with us right now and He wants us to continue His mission,” he said. Recently, Cavins teamed up with Ascension Press to create an online video series called “Encountering the Word.” He said, “I think that the key right now is to reach this generation that is coming to SEEK.”  “They’re the game changes. They’re the ones that are out there in the world. They’re not the future Church, they are the Church.” Curtis Martin, the founder and CEO of FOCUS, told CNA that a college campus is “the most leveraged place in the culture.” “If you wanted to change everything, you need to go there first,” Martin said. The future youth ministers, married couples, teachers, priests, etc, he added, are all passing through their universities now. Right now, there are more than 550 FOCUS full-time missionaries on 125 college campuses in 38 states and even as far as Austria. Martin said the idea that “one person could be so on fire for love of Christ, they would invest their lives in a handful of others, and just love them and invite them to do the same,” can be done and should be done everywhere. In February 1997, Curtis Martin and Dr. Scott Hahn announced the start of FOCUS on ‘Mother Angelica Live!’ At that point, the organization did not even exist, but Hahn said, “it’ll have to exist after we announce it.” During their episode, Mother Angelica was so excited about the new initiative that Martin said she told the viewers to give their money to FOCUS. “We raised about 10,000 dollars that night and that was the start,” he said.   At that time, Archbishop Charles Chaput – then the archbishop of Denver – invited FOCUS to find a home in his diocese. “In those early days,” Archbishop Chaput said, “it already looked like it would be successful from the very beginning but not in the same scale that it is now.” According to FOCUS, their first National Conference in 1999 held only 25 students. “Now it’s nearly 13,000 at this gathering,” the archbishop said. “It’s wonderful to see it. It’s been a lot of years but it’s certainly borne fruit in ways beyond my imagination, anyway.” Curtis Martin explained to CNA that this year’s SEEK numbers represent, “only about 25 percent of the students involved in our program and represents maybe two or three percent of our alumni.” “So there are actually tens of thousands more people out there who are also on mission with us,” he said, “That gives me great hope because we live in a world that needs more missionary disciples.” Dr. Scott Hahn said that at the SEEK conferences, “the joy of the Lord is what people experience here more than anything else.” The key to the New Evangelization, he said, is the joy of the Gospel like Pope Francis says.   “All you have to do is enjoy being Catholic,” because that’s what other people are really looking for, Dr. Hahn said. “And in the process,” he added, “you’re really extending friendship.” “It’s not just 13,000, it’s the hundreds of thousands that will be reached by these 13,000.” After attending SEEK 2017, Arturo Rodriguez, a student at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, said that now he’s “just really inspired to show that inspiration towards others so that I can cheer them up and so that I can see that inspiration and just get closer to God himself.” Rodriguez said his favorite part of the conference was the Eucharistic Adoration on Thursday night, in the main hall, with all 13,000 people. “It was the best Adoration I’ve ever attended,” he said. More than 4,000 confessions were also heard that night. Rodriguez said that when he goes home, he is going to seek out whatever opportunities are offered at his college so he can be even more involved in his faith. During the other nights of the conference, students attended a comedy show by Michael Jr. and a concert by the folk rock band, The Oh Hellos. Curtis Martin said that although he may not know everyone at the SEEK conference now, “Our hope would be everybody here is known, loved and cared for by someone else in the name of Jesus Christ.” “People need to know that they were made to be amazing.” He said too many people are settling for mediocrity. “Jesus Christ made you for a purpose. He’s waiting for you to live radically for him.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I never thought ???? that there are so many real Catholics in the ???????? that have their faith so ????????. Amazing. God bless America!!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/seek2017?src=hash">#seek2017</a></p>&mdash; ks. Maciej S?y? (@xmslyz) <a href="https://twitter.com/xmslyz/status/817588601072603136">January 7, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just saw a priest crowd surfing at the Oh Hellos Concert. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OnlyAtACatholicConference?src=hash">#OnlyAtACatholicConference</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SEEK2017?src=hash">#SEEK2017</a></p>&mdash; Giancarlo Bernini (@Gian_Bernini) <a href="https://twitter.com/Gian_Bernini/status/817596335306186752">January 7, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If Jesus isn't the Lord of all, he isn't the Lord at all. - Curtis Martin <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/seek2017?src=hash">#seek2017</a></p>&mdash; Kevin Cotter | FOCUS (@KevinRCotter) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinRCotter/status/817757971098857473">January 7, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I think it's safe to say that this has been the best week of my life. <a href="https://twitter.com/SEEKConference">@SEEKConference</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/seek2017?src=hash">#seek2017</a></p>&mdash; mitchell davis (@davismitchell14) <a href="https://twitter.com/davismitchell14/status/817742307013361664">January 7, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Read more