Washington D.C., Mar 16, 2016 / 02:48 pm (CNA).- As Republican frontrunner Donald Trump moves closer to the presidential nomination, Catholics are questioning whether voting for the billionaire-turned-politician is a wise – or even moral – option. On March 7, dozens of prominent Catholic leaders released an appeal calling Trump “manifestly unfit to be president of the United States.” “His campaign has already driven our politics down to new levels of vulgarity,” the statement says. “His appeals to racial and ethnic fears and prejudice are offensive to any genuinely Catholic sensibility. He promised to order U.S. military personnel to torture terrorist suspects and to kill terrorists’ families – actions condemned by the Church and policies that would bring shame upon our country.” “And there is nothing in his campaign or his previous record that gives us grounds for confidence that he genuinely shares our commitments to the right to life, to religious freedom and the rights of conscience, to rebuilding the marriage culture, or to subsidiarity and the principle of limited constitutional government.”         The statement is signed by more than 30 leading U.S. Catholics, including Robert George, law professor at Princeton University; Mary Rice Hasson, director of the Catholic Women’s Forum at the Ethics and Public Policy Center; and Thomas Farr, director of the Religious Freedom Project at Georgetown University. Church teaching does not dictate which party or candidate a Catholic should choose. It does, however, offer guidelines for the faithful to use in making their decision. In their document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” the U.S. bishops outline an understanding of political responsibility based upon developing a “well-formed conscience.” “While Catholics must vote their conscience, the conscience can be in error, and so faithful Catholics must make every effort to ‘educate’ or form their consciences according to the teachings of the Church,” said Dr. Chad Pecknold, a theology professor at The Catholic University of America and one of the signers of the Catholic petition against Trump. Catholic teaching holds that the “right to life” is paramount. St. John Paul II described it as “the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights.” The bishops’ document stresses that the direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life “is not just one issue among many. It must always be opposed.” “When a candidate supports abortion rights, or assisted suicide, the Catholic should have no doubt that this is opposed to the teaching of the Church, and should not vote for such a candidate,” said Pecknold. However, beneath the life issue, “Faithful Citizenship” also lists a number of other moral issues of grave importance that must not be ignored. “Racism and other unjust discrimination, the use of the death penalty, resorting to unjust war, the use of torture, war crimes, the failure to respond to those who are suffering from hunger or a lack of health care, pornography, redefining civil marriage, compromising religious liberty, or an unjust immigration policy are all serious moral issues that challenge our consciences and require us to act,” the guide states. Catholics may differ over “how best to respond to these and other compelling threats to human life and dignity,” it adds, but they “are urged to seriously consider Church teaching on these issues.” It is on many of these issues that Catholics have raised concerns about Trump. While both major Democratic candidates – former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders – are long-time abortion advocates and therefore problematic from a Catholic perspective, critiques of Trump are more nuanced. For one, Trump’s plan to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants stands in sharp contrast to the U.S. bishops’ repeated call for comprehensive immigration reform that emphasizes family unity and includes an earned legalization program. The business mogul also gained considerable attention for his assertion that “torture works” and his plan to kill the family members of terrorists. Although he later backtracked on these statements, critics voiced continuing concern over his willingness to commit war crimes and compromise human dignity. Trump’s casino was the first in Atlantic City to have an in-house strip club. And while the GOP frontrunner says he opposes same-sex marriage, he has attracted criticism from defense-of-marriage groups who note that he has bragged in the past about having affairs with other married women and has made numerous explicit and degrading statements about women. Furthermore, his proposal for an indefinite ban on allowing Muslims into the U.S. has drawn serious concern from legal experts who say it is a flagrant violation of religious liberty, endangering the fundamental right for other faiths as well. And while the Catechism teaches that the death penalty should be restricted to cases in which it is the “only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor,” Trump wants to expand the use of capital punishment, making it the mandatory penalty for killing a police officer. While Trump currently says that he is pro-life, he made strong pro-choice statement in 1999 and 2000. A few months ago, he said that his sister Maryanne Trump Barry would be an ideal Supreme Court nominee, despite her striking down New Jersey’s ban on partial-birth abortions as a judge. Several major pro-life groups have questioned Trump’s commitment to the pro-life cause, saying he “cannot be trusted.” Other criticisms of Trump include what many see as disparaging comments and actions toward women, immigrants, minorities and Pope Francis. What is a Catholic to make of all this? Moral theologians refrained from suggesting that Catholics should vote for any specific candidate, but agreed that Trump has supported many seriously troubling causes. “The evidence is overwhelming that no Catholic who desires to be informed by the Church's teaching can vote for Donald Trump,” said Pecknold. The case against Trump is two-fold, he continued. First, Trump’s platform is so “devoid” of “concrete or workable policy proposals” that it’s “simply unreasonable” to guess what he would actually do once in office, he said. Secondly, “when it comes to the conscience,” Trump’s personal character and the persons or causes he has supported or received support from should be unacceptable to Catholic voters, he added. “This is a man who, before any of his policies can be considered, should be seen as a false friend to the working class, and an enemy to the unborn, racial and religious minorities and the dignity of the human person generally,” Pecknold said. Catholics should not vote for candidates “that they know will support and promote intrinsically evil acts,” Pecknold stressed. But in the event that both major candidates support intrinsic evils, Catholics must make a choice: take the “extraordinary step” of sitting out the election, vote for a third-party or write-in candidate with the knowledge that they have virtually no chance of winning, or “carefully deliberate about which candidate is less likely to pursue policies which promote intrinsically evil acts, and is more likely to achieve greater good.” Fr. Thomas Petri, academic dean at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., added that when all available political candidates support intrinsically evil acts, “Faithful Citizenship” makes clear that the faithful are permitted to vote for the candidate whom they believe will “do less damage.” “Catholics must be careful to understand the very grave and immoral positions that Trump espouses both politically and in his personal life. If they vote for him, it cannot be because of his partisanship or because of those grave immoral positions, but because a Catholic, in good conscience, after reviewing the situation, may believe that Trump is the lesser evil of all possible candidates,” Fr. Petri said. “In this election cycle, should Clinton and Trump be the two nominees for the presidential election, Catholics must either not vote or choose one after serious and careful consideration,” he continued. “We Catholics are not permitted to vote for either flippantly or as a matter of routine.” Stephen White, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., warned Catholics against voting for Trump simply to stop pro-abortion Hillary Clinton. “A Trump presidency would be a disaster for life, the family, and religious freedom, and that’s before we get to Mr. Trump’s poisonous xenophobia,” he stated, adding that “Trump cares not a whit for Catholic concerns on these issues.” “Trump is also a savvy negotiator,” he added, and could very well use pro-life and other good causes as trade bait in political negotiations with the opposing party. “It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world…but for Trump?”  Photo credit: Christopher Halloran via www.shutterstock.com Read more

Altoona, Pa., Mar 16, 2016 / 06:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Three former heads of a TOR Franciscan province in Pennsylvania face criminal charges for their alleged role in enabling a friar who sexually abused more than 100 minors. The Immaculate Conceptio... Read more

Washington D.C., Mar 16, 2016 / 03:53 am (CNA/EWTN News).- With Palm Sunday right around the corner, Catholics across the globe will soon be handed leaves as they walk into church. Some might fold them into elaborate little crosses. Kids will poke each other with them. But it's safe to say most won't know where they came from. The feast commemorates Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem the week before his passion and crucifixion. The Gospels attest that as Jesus entered the city, crowds lay down palm branches and cloaks as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. For centuries, Christians have commemorated the feast day that begins Holy Week by waving branches of either palm or another local tree, as well as with liturgical processions and other celebrations. In the U.S. alone, nearly 18,000 Catholic parishes will celebrate Palm Sunday by blessing and distributing palm branches to the faithful. That makes millions of palm leaves each year – and that doesn’t include all of the Protestant churches that observe the tradition. Where do all those palms come from? While many Catholics know the final destination of their palms – they are burned to become ashes for next year’s Ash Wednesday – the origin of the leafy branches is less well known.Credit: Klara Sasova / Unsplash The journey from tree to church begins with the harvesters around the world who cut and prepare the leaves for their role in worship. The work needed to provide palms for Palm Sunday is so immense that it actually constitutes a full-time year-round job for some harvesters. Thomas Sowell is one such palm harvester from Florida who has been helping to supply parishes with fresh palm leaves for more than five decades. Sowell began harvesting wild palm leaves from trees as a child to earn extra money in the springtime. Over the past several decades, he has grown his business into a palm supplier that ships the leafy branches to all 50 states and Canada. Despite the growth in his business, Sowell says he tries to maintain his focus on the purpose behind it all. “We try to do the best job that we can,” he told CNA. “Every bag that we send out to churches, every individual bag has been examined, cleaned – we go to extreme measures to make sure that everything we do for these churches is done in the honor of Jesus Christ.” While there are more than 2,600 different species of palm that grow across the world, palm plants cannot survive outside of tropical and subtropical climates. Historically, parishes that could not source palm locally would instead substitute branches of another local tree such as olive or willow, although modern churches also have the option of sourcing palm fronds from other regions of the world. In the United States and Canada, most parishes seek out suppliers who deliver fresh palms shortly before Palm Sunday, said Fr. Michael J. Flynn, Secretariat of Divine Worship for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Many of these parishes contact church goods suppliers such as Peter Munley of Falls Church, Virginia, who helps provide parishes year-round with supplies like candles and sacramental wine, along with palms for Holy Week.   Munley told CNA that in preparation for Palm Sunday, he works to deliver palms from their source to different parishes that place orders around the country. In addition to Florida, palms are sourced from Texas, California and elsewhere in the Southern United States, he said. While nearly all of the palms Munley sells are individually pre-cut, church goods suppliers also helps to source decorative palms for altar centerpieces and larger palm fronds as well. Dealers also work to ensure that palms get burnt and ground into ashes for Ash Wednesday, for parishes that cannot burn the palms for ashes themselves. Munley also stressed that although many American-based palm sources are not labeled as “eco-friendly,” the practices of many major U.S. palm harvesters are indeed environmentally sustainable. “Our guys don’t kill the palm,” he said, adding that by sourcing palms from American harvesters as opposed to internationally-certified “green” farmers, they help to reduce the ecological impact of shipping and transportation.Credit: Bohumil Petrik/CNA. Sowell said that the palm trees he works with “are 100 percent wild.” He works with local ranchers and landowners to remove palmetto leaves from trees that grow naturally on local farmland. Some of the trees Sowell harvests from have been producing palm leaves since he first started gathering palm leaves to sell as a boy. “I know that there are trees that are still being cut today that I cut when I was twelve,” he said. Originally, Sowell cut everything himself. Over the years, however, his growing cooperation with the caretakers who supply palm led him to focus more on preparing palms for church supply dealers and for shipment. Cooperation with ranchers and landowners is critical. Sowell says the process of cutting, cleaning and preparing the strips of palm is incredibly labor intensive, and he could not complete it without local partnerships. “There’s no way that you could grow this much palm and just do it (alone). It’s hard.” The work is so intensive that the Palm Sunday celebrations require an entire year’s work. “We work twelve months out of the year, in one aspect or another, for one day,” Sowell said. He also supplies palm leaves for Eastern Orthodox Churches, which use a different calendar for Easter and Lent. After the celebration of Palm Sunday in the Catholic Church and other Western churches, “we’ll turn around in a couple of weeks and gather more palms so they’re fresh for the Orthodox,” he said. The participation of Christians in Palm Sunday celebrations not only provides work and a living for Sowell and his employees, but financial support for the local ranchers who work with him. “There are so many families that help us that can earn money in a way that otherwise they couldn’t.” Ultimately, Sowell sees his job harvesting and preparing palm leaves – and the service he is able to offer to parishes across the country – as a blessing. “There would have been no way we could have done this if it hadn’t been for God helping us,” he said.   Read more

Washington D.C., Mar 15, 2016 / 10:48 pm (CNA).- A federal court has sided with a Sikh soldier working to secure a religious exemption for his beard and headwear under U.S. Army regulations. The ruling affirms that religious groups cannot be targeted because of their faith, experts said.   “This is a huge victory for Sikhs and the first time a court has said the military cannot discriminate against an active duty Sikh. Sikhs must be treated on equal terms as other groups,” Eric Baxter, senior counsel with The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told CNA. The Becket Fund is representing Army Captain Simratpal Singh, who had requested a religious exemption to Army standards so that he could wear a beard and turban according to his religious practice. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sided with the Army captain, ruling that he should not be forced by the Army to undergo three days of specialized helmet and gas mask testing for requesting a religious exemption. The Army bans turbans and beards on the grounds they are a safety hazard for soldiers and impede the proper fitting of helmets and gas masks. Despite the ban, the Army has allowed 100,000 military members to grow beards for medical reasons such as severe acne. Special Forces troops in Afghanistan are also allowed to grow beards. Last December, Singh, a West Point graduate and Bronze Star recipient, was granted a temporary 30-day accommodation to serve with his turban and beard. The accommodation was extended until March 31, 2016. But on Feb. 26, Singh was ordered to complete additional non-standard testing in order to remain in the military. The irregular testing would require special supervision and cost more than $3,200. On Feb. 29, Singh filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense, on the grounds that the special testing constituted religious discrimination. He had already passed the standard helmet and gas mask testing required by all soldiers. On March 4, the federal court ruled that that the required non-standard testing violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the free exercise of religion under the U.S. Constitution. The judge explained that “singling out the plaintiff for specialized testing due only to his Sikh articles of faith is, in this context, unfair and discriminatory.” Baxter praised the ruling. “The court rightfully recognized that Captain Singh was being targeted for his faith and refused to allow the military to trample on his religious freedom,” he said. “The Army could not show a compelling reason why Captain Singh would have to undergo extreme testing when other soldiers have been allowed to wear beards for non-religious reasons without having to do the same.” Singh is also represented by the Sikh Coalition. Harsimran Kaur, the coalition’s legal director, said the ruling upholds the Sikh principle to fight injustice. “This ruling affirms a key Sikh principle to fight oppression. Sikhs believe that all people are equal in the eyes of God and should never stand for injustice or discrimination,” Kaur told CNA March 9. “For Sikhs, it is important to remember God at all times, earn an honest living, share with the less fortunate, and fight discrimination,” he explained.   He said that the articles of the Sikh faith have a deeper meaning. “Unshorn hair and a beard are physical and external reminders to Sikhs to uphold their spiritual obligations to God. They are symbols of their submission to God and we believe this is living in harmony with God’s will. This is an essential part of the Sikh way of life,” Kaur said. Singh, a devout Sikh, always wore a beard and a turban in accord with his beliefs. But when he was accepted at West Point in 2006, he felt he had no choice but to comply with academy rules and shave his beard or else lose his place, the lawsuit said. Since graduating from West Point, Singh has completed Ranger School and has received a master's degree in engineering. He also received a Bronze Star for his service clearing improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan. Singh has always complied with the Army’s ban on long hair and turbans, despite feeling conflicted over not fulfilling the articles of his faith, according to the lawsuit. After meeting several Sikh soldiers who maintained their religious practices, Singh realized that his faith and profession could coexist, the document said. In October 2015, Singh filed a request for a religious accommodation to allow him to wear a beard and turban. His temporary accommodation ends March 31, by which date a final decision on his exemption request must be granted. Travis Weber, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Family Research Council, said that religious freedom and military practices are not mutually exclusive. “Military service members retain their constitutional rights when they enter the military. They should not be forced to choose between serving their country and practicing their faith,” Weber told CNA March 10. “The Army must accommodate religious beliefs as long as they don’t conflict with important military goals and practices. In this case, there was no reason why Captain Singh couldn’t exercise his faith since no convincing military interest was in jeopardy,” Weber said. Captain Singh is the first active-duty combat soldier to be granted an exception to the Army's grooming requirements. Since the ban was implemented in 1981, only three other Sikhs have been allowed to grow beards. They all served in non-combatant positions in the medical corps. Baxter said the court’s ruling sets an important precedent against discriminating against military members of faith. “If the Army can tell a Sikh they cannot practice their faith, it will be able to make other arbitrary demands on others of faith,” he said. “If the Army can say you must give up this part of your faith, what else will it demand? We are glad the court wasn’t willing to find out and chose to safeguard the constitutional freedoms of Captain Singh.”  Photo credit: Sergei Bachlakov via www.shutterstock.com Read more

South Bend, Ind., Mar 15, 2016 / 05:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Vice President Joe Biden's “gravely irresponsible” rejection of Catholic teaching on abortion and marriage should disqualify him from Notre Dame's Laetare Medal, the local bishop has said. “We should seek to honor those who act to protect human life and dignity from conception to natural death, who respect true marriage and the family, who promote peace, justice, religious freedom, solidarity, the integral development of the poor, the just treatment of immigrants, and care for creation,” Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend said March 14. “We should not honor those who may be exemplary in one area but gravely irresponsible in another.” The bishop’s diocese encompasses the University of Notre Dame. The Catholic school announced March 5 that it would award its prestigious Laetare Medal to Vice-President Biden and former Speaker of the House John Boehner. The award will be presented during the university’s May 15 commencement ceremony. The Laetare Medal dates back to 1883. It has been awarded annually to a Catholic “whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the Church and enriched the heritage of humanity,” the university said. Previous honorees include President John F. Kennedy, Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day, novelist Walker Percy, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, Speaker of the House Tip O’Neil, actor Martin Sheen and Jazz composer Dave Brubeck. Bishop Rhoades objected to the vice president’s support for legal abortion. “I believe it is wrong for Notre Dame to honor any ‘pro-choice’ public official with the Laetare Medal, even if he or she has other positive accomplishments in public service, since direct abortion is gravely contrary to the natural law and violates a very fundamental principle of Catholic moral and social teaching: the inalienable right to life of every innocent human being from the moment of conception,” the bishop said. “I also question the propriety of honoring a public official who was a major spokesman for the redefinition of marriage.” The bishop said that several months previously the university’s president, Father John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., had discussed with him the decision to give the Laetare Medal to both Biden and Boehner. Father Jenkins said the move was intended to honor their public service, not to endorse their political positions. Bishop Rhoades reflected on the decision. “I know that this honor is also an attempt to recognize two Catholics from different political parties at a time when our national politics is often mired in acrimonious partisanship,” the bishop said March 14. However, he added that public officials, especially Catholics, have the “grave and clear obligation” to oppose laws that support or facilitate abortion or that undermines “the authentic meaning of marriage.” “I disagree with awarding someone for ‘outstanding service to the Church and society’ who has not been faithful to this obligation,” he said. For Bishop Rhoades, the university’s efforts to distinguish the conferral of the Laetare Medal from honorees’ public policy decisions is “not realistically possible or intellectually coherent.” He suggested the two honorees should have been invited to speak at Notre Dame rather than to receive an honor. The bishop said that honors can give the impression that it is possible to be a good Catholic while advocating “positions that contradict our fundamental moral and social principles and teachings.” He encouraged further reflection on the nature of such honors from Catholic institutions. The university cited Biden’s service on the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, his work against domestic violence, and his oversight as vice president of a multi-billion dollar stimulus bill. The university cited Boehner’s service in the House of Representatives and his work on pension and school choice programs. In the 1970s Biden had been critical of legal abortion, and still professes to personally oppose abortion. However, he changed his position in the 1980s to support legalized abortion. As vice president, he voiced support for gay marriage in a May 2012 television appearance that led to President Barack Obama announcing his own public support for redefining marriage. Father Jenkins in the medal announcement decried “a toxic political environment where poisonous invective and partisan gamesmanship pass for political leadership.” “It is a good time to remind ourselves what lives dedicated to genuine public service in politics look like,” he said. “We find it in the lives of Vice President Biden and Speaker Boehner.” Father Jenkins said the recognition does not mean the university is endorsing either politician’s policy positions. Rather, it is “celebrating two lives dedicated to keeping our democratic institutions working for the common good through dialogue focused on the issues and responsible compromise.” In 2009, the University of Notre Dame invited President Barack Obama to give its commencement speech and receive an honorary degree. The move drew strong criticism from pro-life advocates due to the president’s strong pro-abortion rights stand. Several dozen Catholic bishops objected to the decision. Bishop John M. D'Arcy, who headed the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend at the time of the controversy, declined to attend the school’s 2009 commencement. He cited a 2004 U.S. bishops' statement on Catholics in political life that calls on Catholic institutions not to honor those who counter Catholic beliefs. In April 2009, former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon declined the Laetare Medal. In her view, the honorary degree disregarded the U.S. bishops in order to honor “a prominent and uncompromising opponent of the Church’s position on issues involving fundamental principles of justice.” Several dozen pro-life advocates protested on the university campus the day of the president’s 2009 commencement speech and were arrested for trespassing. In 2012, the Obama administration announced a Department of Health and Human Services mandate requiring Catholic institutions like the University of Notre Dame to provide health insurance coverage for drugs and procedures proscribed by Catholic ethics. The university filed a lawsuit against the mandate. Its request for a preliminary injunction against the mandate was denied in May 2015. Photo credit: www.shutterstock.com. Read more

New Haven, Conn., Mar 15, 2016 / 03:22 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Catholic news website Crux has announced a partnership with the Knights of Columbus, following the Boston Globe dropping its financial backing of the outlet. Under the new partnership, Cr... Read more

San Antonio, Texas, Mar 15, 2016 / 02:31 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio has released a statement mourning the death of one of his priests, Father Virgilio Elizondo, who was found dead on Monday of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. “I join the priests of the Archdiocese of San Antonio as we are deeply saddened and stunned by the news of the death of Father Virgilio Elizondo on March 14,” Archbishop Garcia-Siller stated. “This is an occasion for great sorrow, as his death was sudden and unexpected.” Fr. Elizondo, a leader among Hispanic Catholics well-known for his promotion of liberation theology in the United States, was a professor of pastoral and Hispanic theology at the University of Notre Dame. He was found dead at the age of 80 in San Antonio. A lawsuit had been filed against Fr. Elizondo in May 2015 accusing him of sexually abusing a boy in the 1980s. The priest had denied the the allegation and reportedly intended to fight it in court. Archbishop Garcia-Siller noted that “at this devastatingly sad time for Father Virgil’s family – especially his sister – as well as his brother clergy, co-workers and friends, we offer our most profound sympathies. Our thoughts and prayers are with them all. I pray for all those who mourn Father Virgil and for the repose of his soul.” “In this Year of Mercy, we now commend him to the saving mercy of our God, who is compassionate and full of mercy and love. This is most fitting and proper.” Fr. Elizondo graduated from St. Mary's University in 1957 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of San Antonio in 1963. In 1969 he received an M.A. in pastoral studies from Manila's Ateneo University, and in 1978 a doctorate in theology from the Institut Catholique in Paris. He helped to found the Mexican American Cultural Center, now the Mexican American Catholic College, in 1972, and was rector of San Antonio's cathedral from 1983 – 1995. He was on the editorial board of the journal Concilium from 1979 to 1999, and he had taught at Notre Dame since 1999. Fr. Elizondo was awarded the John Courtney Murray Award from the Catholic Theological Society of America, the Johannes Quasten Award from the Catholic University of America, and the Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame. The Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States have established a prize in his name. His faculty page at Notre Dame notes that he “has been very instrumental in TV work and video productions and is considered the leading interpreter of U.S. Latino religion by the national and international media.” Among his numerous books were Galilean Journey: The Mexican-American Promise, The Future is Mestizo: Life Where Cultures Meet, and Guadalupe: Mother of the New Creation. A collection of his essays, Beyond Borders: Writings of Virgilio Elizondo and Friends, includes a foreword by Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez, widely regarded as the father of liberation theology. The abuse allegation against Fr. Elizondo was made by a man who says he was molested by Jesus Armando Dominguez from 1980-83 while he lived at an orphanage. Dominguez was then a seminarian. The man claims he told Fr. Elizondo about the abuse, and the priest himself then molested him in turn. Read more

Salt Lake City, Utah, Mar 15, 2016 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Utah's state legislature recently passed a resolution warning about the harm pornography does to individuals, families and society. The resolution says that the state legislature “recognizes that pornography is a public health hazard leading to a broad spectrum of individual and public health impacts and societal harms.” Susan Dennin, a spokesperson for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, said the move “affirms our belief in the inviolable dignity of the human person revealed fully in Christ and the gift of human sexuality and marriage in God’s plan.” She told CNA March 14 that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had discussed this topic in their November 2015 document “Create in Me a Clean Heart: A Pastoral Response to Pornography.” The Utah House of Representatives passed the resolution March 11 near the close of its legislative session. The Utah Senate had approved the bill in February by a unanimous vote of 24-0. The resolution charges that pornography perpetuates “a sexually toxic environment” and contributes to the “hyper-sexualization” of young children and teens. It is critical towards technological advances that have made it easier for young children to access pornography. It also cites pornography’s potential impact on brain development and functioning, its potential to harm users’ ability to form intimate relationships, and its potential to lead to “problematic or harmful sexual behaviors and addiction.” The resolution charged that pornography “treats women and children as objects.” The legislature says that pornography has a detrimental effect on the family due to a link with “lessening desire in young men to marry, dissatisfaction in marriage, and infidelity.” In response to these problems, the resolution advocates unspecified “education, prevention, research, and policy change.” State Sen. Todd Weiler, a sponsor of the resolution, told the Salt Lake Tribune that pornography is “a serious issue.” “For us to pretend that this has no impact on our values and on our society and culture and the brain development of our adolescents is very naïve,” he said. He said the response to pornography should model itself on efforts to control access to and promotion of tobacco after evidence showed it was harmful. “My goal in passing this resolution is to start a national movement to do the same thing with pornography – not to ban it, but to protect our children from it,” he said. Sen. Weiler said he would like to see internet providers allow pornography only on an opt-in basis. Utah is a predominantly Mormon state. The resolution won praise from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Society must see this evil like the epidemic it is,” he said, according to KSL-TV. Read more