Washington D.C., Sep 29, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Expansion and further welcoming outreach are the plans for the next head of Courage International, a Catholic apostolate for people with same-sex attraction. “I look forward to welcoming more courageous men and women in the name of the Church, to hear the stories of how God has been acting in their lives and relationships, and to walk with them along the way to holiness that the Church proposes for our happiness and fulfillment,” said Father Philip G. Bochanski, the apostolate’s new executive director. Fr. Bochanski told CNA Sept. 28 that he is most impressed with the “spiritual fatherhood” that the apostolate’s chaplains show to Courage and EnCourage members. “My plan at this point is to continue their good work and do what I can to expand the reach of our local chapters,” he added. “Today we are present in about two-thirds of the dioceses of the United States, and in 14 countries overseas, but there are many more places in the universal Church that could benefit from our presence and our pastoral work.” The apostolate was founded in New York City in 1980 when a small group of Catholic men with same-sex attraction and wanted to live chaste lives according to Catholic teaching met with the priest Fr. John F. Harvey, the apostolate’s first director. The group’s five goals are chastity, prayer, fellowship, support and service. The group also has a ministry outreach to parents and spouses, called EnCourage. Fr. Bochanski was ordained a priest in 1999 for the Philadelphia archdiocese. He was a pastoral associate in several Philadelphia parishes and a chaplain for the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters, the Catholic Medical Association’s Philadelphia guild, and the Courage apostolate’s Philadelphia chapter. He became associate director of Courage last year. He has helped implement the apostolate’s “Courage Study Days” to help form priests about Catholic teaching on homosexuality, how to be clear and compassion in presenting Catholic teaching, and how to provide authentic pastoral care to men and women with same-sex attractions. He has helped oversee existing and new chapters of Courage and EnCourage, a ministry outreach to parents and spouses. “Courage and EnCourage are, and always have been, about bringing people together for mutual support and encouragement, and about building people up to embrace God's call and be formed as disciples,” Fr. Bochanski said. “We are not out to ‘fix’ anyone or to replace anyone's personality, to put heavy burdens on anyone or to make anyone feel terrible about their lives or their desires,” he added. “As the Church does for every person (regardless of whether their sexual attractions are for the same or the opposite sex), Courage invites each member to embrace chastity in mind, heart and body, and to move away from relationships and behaviors that are not chaste.” “Along with this invitation comes a promise to support each member as he or she comes to understand chastity more deeply and to live it out more fully,” he said. Fr. Paul Scalia, chairman of the Courage board of directors, praised Fr. Bochanski’s “great pastoral experience” and his familiarity with the apostolate’s work. “He has already distinguished himself as a great promoter of the apostolate and we are confident he will continue and build upon the good work of his predecessors,” Fr. Scalia said. The priest succeeds Fr. Paul Check, who had served as executive director since 2008. “Fr. Bochanski already has much experience in the work of this vital apostolate and I have every confidence that he will give great service in the years ahead,” Fr. Check said. Fr. Check himself succeeded Fr. Harvey in 2008. Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport, Conn. recently named him as the rector of St. John Fisher Seminary Residence in Stamford. Fr. Check will serve on the Courage board of directors. Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia released Fr. Bochanski to take on his new role. “There’s no better way of showing my support than releasing one of our finest priests, Fr. Philip Bochanski — a perfect candidate to take Fr. Check’s place,” Archbishop Chaput said. Fr. Bochanski said he is conscious of how questions of homosexuality and sexual identity have become an important issue both in the Church society. “I will be looking for opportunities to participate in these discussions,” he said. “Although secular cultural and moral norms seem to be shifting more rapidly than ever before, the truth of the Faith does not change.” He advised Catholics to make sure they are well-informed about what the Church teaches and look for ways to “speak the truth in love.” They should “share the good news that living chastely and finding our true identity as sons and daughters of God is the way to real happiness and authentic relationships.” The Courage apostolate’s leadership will be In Phoenix, Ariz. Jan. 9-11 for its “Truth and Love” conference for clergy, religious and laity involved in pastoral care. The Courage website is https://couragerc.org. Read more

Washington D.C., Sep 29, 2016 / 12:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The United States bishops have said that Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on love in the family, Amoris laetitia, was well-received among local Catholics and has had a broader focus th... Read more

Washington D.C., Sep 28, 2016 / 04:37 pm (CNA).- More than 8,900 students, parents and school community members are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to protect a restroom privacy policy for students in a Virginia school district. “Placing students in circumstances where their privacy is compromised and they are at risk of bodily exposure in the vicinity of members of the opposite sex is not only demeaning and humiliating, but also denies individuals’ personal dignity,” said a legal brief filed by Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of the concerned individuals. “Courts have thus refused to require schools to open sex-specific locker rooms, showers, and restrooms to all students because permanent emotional impairment could result from the deprivation of students’ bodily-privacy rights,” the brief continued. “Instead, they have allowed schools to craft common sense solutions that respect every student’s privacy.” The brief, filed Wednesday, represented 8,914 concerned parents, students, grandparents, and community members, as well as more than 40 state family policy councils, all of whom support a student privacy policy in Gloucester Country, Virginia. The policy separates restrooms based on biological sex, while offering a private alternative facility for students who are uncomfortable using the restroom for their sex. The restroom policy has been challenged in court after a student who was born a girl but identifies as a boy began using the boys’ restroom at school. The student refused to use a private bathroom because doing so would “make him feel even more stigmatized,” according to court documents, which also said, “Being required to use separate restrooms sets him apart from his peers, and serves as a daily reminder that the school views him as ‘different.’” A federal court initially denied the student an injunction against the school board’s restroom policy. The circuit court remanded that decision and sent it back, and in June the district court judge ruled that the school district had to allow the student access to the men’s bathroom. The Supreme Court in August placed a temporary stay on the federal court ruling ordering that the school board must allow the student to use the men's restroom. The stay will last until the Supreme Court either refuses to hear the case or hears and decides the case. In its friend-of-the-court brief, Alliance Defending Freedom joins its voice to teachers, U.S. states, former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett, and more than 100 Congress members in asking the Supreme Court to hear the case and overturn the 4th Circuit’s ruling. “(C)ourts have recognized that the constitutional right of bodily privacy is defined by reasonable expectations, not the bohemian leanings of a few,” the ADF brief said, “and that laws aimed at eliminating sex discrimination were designed to create equal opportunities for women and men, not to force new privacy mores on the American public.” Gary McCaleb, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, said that the Circuit’s ruling is “out of step with the law and previous federal court precedent.” “Decades of court decisions have established that, in light of the right of bodily privacy, no law grants opposite-sex persons access to single-sex facilities, where the interest in privacy is obviously strongest and bodily exposure is so common.” The U.S. Catholic bishops have spoken about treatment of children identifying as transgender. “Especially at a young age and in schools, it is important that our children understand the depth of God's love for them and their intrinsic worth and beauty. Children should always be and feel safe and secure and know they are loved,” Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo and Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha stated on May 16. Bishop Malone chairs the U.S. bishops’ family life and youth committee; Archbishop Lucas chairs the bishops’ Catholic education committee. Nevertheless, federal agencies’ treatment of “‘a student's gender identity as the student's sex’ is deeply disturbing,” the bishops continued, citing Pope Francis’ words in Amoris Laetitia that “the young need to be helped to accept their own body as it was created.” There have been “legitimate concerns about privacy and security on the part of the other young students and parents,” the bishops added of policies that recognize students’ gender identity over their biological sex. “As Pope Francis has recently indicated, ‘biological sex and the socio-cultural role of sex (gender) can be distinguished but not separated’,” the bishops added.   Read more

St. Cloud, Minn., Sep 28, 2016 / 02:58 pm (National Catholic Register).- In the aftermath of the mall stabbing of nine people by a Somali-Muslim Sept. 17 in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Muslims called on their friends at the Greater St. Cloud Area Faith Leade... Read more

Cleveland, Ohio, Sep 28, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Rhoda Wise, the mystic visionary and reputed stigmatic and miracle worker who played a key role in the life of Mother Angelica, is now the focus of a diocesan inquiry as one of the first steps ... Read more

Louisville, Ky., Sep 27, 2016 / 08:44 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- For the first time in centuries, an ancient Biblical scroll could be read, thanks to a computer scanning technology that can reconstruct a clear text from damaged, unreadable material. “... Read more