Washington D.C., Jan 7, 2016 / 03:06 pm (CNA).- As United States president Barack Obama on Tuesday announced executive action to curb gun violence, the nation's bishops welcomed “reasonable efforts” at the regulation of guns and encouraged congressional action on the issue. “For a long time now, the bishops of the United States have called for reasonable policies to help reduce gun violence,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami said shortly after Obama's address. The archbishop is chair of the U.S. bishops' domestic justice and human development committee. “While no measure can eliminate all acts of violence which involve firearms, we welcome reasonable efforts aimed at saving lives and making communities safer. We hope Congress will take up this issue in a more robust way, considering all of the varied aspects involved,” he continued in his Jan. 6 statement. Archbishop Wenski added that aside from “reasonable regulation, conversations must include strengthening social services for persons with mental illness, while being mindful that the vast majority of those suffering with mental illness are not likely to commit violent criminal acts.” The United States president had on Jan. 5 announced that gun sellers, including currently exempt sellers at gun shows and online, must perform background checks on potential buyers; states are to provide information about those disqualified from buying guns due to certain restrictions involving mental illness or domestic violence; and some 230 new examiners to conduct background checks will be hired at the FBI. Obama had attempted to push expanded background check legislation through Congress in 2012 after a shooting at a Connecticut school killed 26, but it had failed. The president also asked that Congress approve $500 million to improve access to mental healthcare. He cited the need to respond to 30,000 gun deaths each year and to several major shooting incidents, saying, “we can find ways to reduce gun violence consistent with the Second Amendment.” Numerous Republican legislators and presidential candidates were quick to challenge the executive action.  Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas on Jan. 5 called the executive actions “first steps in correcting gun laws so weak that they are ludicrous.” He added, “Thank God that someone finally has the courage to close the loopholes in our pitiful gun control laws to reduce the number of mass shootings, suicides and killings that have become a plague in our country.” “The president’s action is a small but important step to control sales of weapons at gun shows and over the internet that sidestep background checks. These 'back door' gun dealers have effectively nullified the law requiring background checks by legitimate gun dealers by creating a black-market in firearms for those seeking to avoid background checks for whatever reason. The proliferation of weapons must be controlled.” The bishop also charged that “Congress has unabashedly sold itself to the gun lobby. If there was ever any doubt, its recent action to kill legislation to ban people on the terrorist no-fly list made it obvious.” Bishop Farrell also used his post to address Texas' new law, which was effective Jan. 1, allowing holders of concealed firearms licenses to carry firearms openly in places not prohibited by law.  The Dallas bishop lamented the legislation, saying, “it is difficult to see how this … can accomplish anything other than cause people to feel threatened and intimidated.” Noting that the law allows churches to prohibit the carrying of open or concealed weapons on their premises, he announced that “the Diocese of Dallas will prohibit the possession of any weapon in any facility owned, leased and operated by the diocese or a diocesan entity, except as specifically permitted by diocesan policy.” This policy, he said, “is rooted in the belief that our churches, schools and other places of worship are intended to be sanctuaries – holy sites where people come to pray and participate in the ministry of the Church.”  Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler had also responded to the Texas law the preceding week. In a Dec. 31, 2015 statement, he said that “I respect and support the right that we have as Texans to defend ourselves and our families. As Catholics, we believe the legitimate defense of persons can be not only a right, but also a grave duty.” “In the Diocese of Tyler, I strongly encourage those who choose to exercise this right to continue to do so in a prudent and responsible manner. With respect to our communal worship, I believe that openly carrying a weapon is not appropriate during the Sacred Liturgy and may understandably cause great discomfort to some gathered to worship alongside us.” In his capacity as Bishop of Tyler, he asked the faithful of his diocese “and guests of our churches to observe my instruction that weapons are not to be openly carried during Holy Mass or other times of public worship.” He added that peace officers of local, state, or federal agencies are exempt from the instruction. “As Texans adjust to this new law, I would also encourage the clergy and faithful of the Diocese to address any questions that may arise with calmness, kindness and respect, taking into consideration both the legitimate feelings and the rights of all involved,” Bishop Strickland wrote. The bishop also directed that a statement conveying his instruction be inserted into parish bulletins and/or read during the announcement at Mass.  Bishop Farrell's blogpost concluded by exhorting: “Let us pray that our legislators will see this as a human and not a political concern so that gun violence can be mitigated through appropriate legislation that allows us to live in a safe environment while respecting our Second Amendment rights.”Photo credit: Kirill Demchenko via www.shutterstock.com. Read more

New York City, N.Y., Jan 7, 2016 / 07:01 am (CNA).- It’s not hard to think of a myriad of reasons why people today might be afraid. Terrorists at home and abroad choose seemingly random cultural and civil events at which to gun down the innocent and incite fear in the rest of the world. Economic instability and political uncertainty have brought the United States to a point where presidential candidates are campaigning on the fears of their constituents. But fear is not a new human emotion, it is one that has been experienced throughout history. That’s why the New York Encounter, a cultural event hosted by the Communion and Liberation movement, will aim to explore the universal feelings of fear and desire, and whether fear can be overcome for a greater good. “We long to sail on the sea of life and yet we are afraid of leaving our safe harbor,” the event’s introduction reads. “What is the final word on man’s desire? Is there an attraction capable of overcoming our fears and drawing us out to the open waters that our hearts yearn for?”   The Encounter, an event that has grown and evolved over the past seven years, is set to take place next week at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City, Jan. 15-17. The entire event is free and open to the public, and requires no registration. The event will include speakers and performances from people of various fields and walks of life – artists, medical professionals, priests, architects, astronauts and businessmen. It will also feature exhibits on persecuted Iraqi and Syrian Christians, the life of newly-canonized St. Junipero Serra, outer space, and international development. “What we try to do is to find people who have been facing this challenge between fear and desire, taking their risks, trying to build something, trying to give this desire more room than their fear,” said Maurizio Maniscalco, the event’s president. Of the speakers, Maniscalo said is most excited to hear from Archbishop Amel Nona, an exiled Chaldean Catholic bishop of Mosul, Iraq, and Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, a priest from the Holy Land. The idea of an “encounter” of faith is also central to the event, and is something that Pope Francis has often spoken about during his papacy – the need for people to experience a real and living faith in their everyday lives. Pope Benedict XVI also said that "the intelligence of faith has to become the intelligence of reality." The Encounter event therefore seeks to be an example of a faith that is incarnate and alive in various aspects of people’s lives. “Yes, there are spoken words, but there are human beings, there are faces, there are testimonies, there are witnesses,” he said. “And possibly, when you return home, this flesh has become like a little seed in your own conscience, in your own heart, that reignites your desire and allows it to prevail over the many fears that haunt you.” The program is packed with simultaneous speakers and events in order to give attendees a variety of options and to decide which events will most speak to them, Maniscalo said. Although put on by a Catholic lay movement, Masicalo said the event is open to people of all faiths and traditions, and is a chance for imperfect people to witness to the Gospel in the public square. “I think that’s the beauty of it,” he said. “We’re ordinary, screwed up, passionate people, and all ordinary and screwed up people are invited to the encounter, and I’m certain that they will feel at home.” “But we’re screwed up ordinary people, used as servants who try to bring that testimony to the public square. And in the public square you can run into anybody, all kinds of people.”Photo credit: www.shutterstock.com. Read more

Washington D.C., Jan 7, 2016 / 03:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Executions in the United States fell to the lowest number in decades in 2015, and recent Popes may have helped spur the drop in public support for capital punishment. “I think that there is continued erosion of support for the death penalty, and that’s manifested across the board,” explained Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., in an interview with CNA. The center gathers and tracks information on the death penalty in the United States. “So you see it in fewer executions, fewer capital prosecutions, fewer jury verdicts of death, and then states that are seeking death are doing so in questionable ways,” he added, noting that it is the “continuation of a long-term pattern.” The number of executions in the U.S. fell to 28 in 2015, continuing its overall decline since the peak of 98 in 1999. It is the lowest number in 24 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The number of death sentences also fell from 73 in 2014 to 49 in 2015, the lowest number since the 1970s when states began re-enacting death penalty statutes. Only six states actually conducted executions in 2015. Four states have accounted for 90 percent of the executions in past two years – Texas, Missouri, Georgia, and Florida. They were clearly “outlier states,” Dunham said, “out of step with what the rest of the country is doing.” Public approval of the death penalty for convicted murderers has fallen along with the number of executions and death sentences. It peaked in 1996, according to the Pew Research Center, when 78 percent of Americans supported the death penalty for someone convicted of murder. That number has fallen to 56 percent in 2015. And among Catholics the death penalty has similarly lost support. 53 percent of Catholics support its use now for convicted murderers, down from 59 percent in 2011. A 2004 Gallup poll showed its approval among Catholics at 66 percent. However, the polls may not distinguish between faithful Mass-going Catholics and Catholics who do not practice their faith, Joshua Mercer, co-founder of CatholicVote.org, said. He suggested that the support for the death penalty may be significantly lower among practicing Catholics who take seriously the teaching of the Magisterium and recent papal statements against the use of capital punishment. “Amongst Catholic voters, I think since Pope John Paul II spoke about the death penalty, we’ve seen the support for death penalty in the United States amongst faithful Catholics decline,” Mercer told CNA. Controversies haunted several 2015 executions and the public has taken notice, Dunham added. More than two-thirds of the executions involved convicts “who exhibited symptoms of severe mental illness, intellectual disability, or the effects of trauma or some combination of those,” he said. For instance, Georgia executed Andrew Brannan in January for killing a sheriff’s deputy 17 years ago. Brannan was a decorated Vietnam War veteran whom the Department of Veterans Affairs considered 100 percent disabled because of posttraumatic stress disorder. Also, some states resorted to illegal or questionable means of execution because they were unable to procure the normal drugs for lethal injection. Many pharmaceutical companies have stopped providing drugs for executions, and the European Union, which strongly opposes the death penalty, has banned the export of drugs for capital punishment. Nebraska, Arizona, and Texas tried to import drugs for execution that were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The drugs were seized, and in one case Federal Express refused to transport them to Nebraska. Some states then approved other means of execution – Utah brought back the firing squad and Oklahoma approved the use of nitrogen gas as a back-up method. Oklahoma saw a botched execution in January, and an autopsy later revealed that the wrong lethal drug had been administered.   All this undermined confidence in the states' authority to execute criminals, Dunham said. “The level of incompetence that was involved in that administratively botched execution was astounding,” he said of the January execution of Charles Warner in Oklahoma. “Can you trust the states to carry this out in a fair, humane, and competent way?” Dunham noted that while there are multiple factors behind the drop in support, the shift in moral sensibilities cannot be overlooked, along with the influence of the papacy. Pope Francis made a “very strong statement against the death penalty in a very public setting,” he said of the Pope’s Sept. 24 address to a joint meeting of Congress, in which he called for a “global abolition of the death penalty” and offered “encouragement to all those who are convinced that a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation.” Francis talked in a “graceful and humane way” that “appealed to our better nature,” Dunham added. The drop in public support “is not something new,” explained Monsignor Stuart Swetland, president of Donnelly College in Kansas, saying that recent Popes have led the way in calling for its abolition. He cited St. John Paul II’s homily in St. Louis in 1999, in which he urged Catholics to be “unconditionally pro-life” and called for an end to the death penalty. “A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform,” St. John Paul II said. And in 2011, Benedict XVI expressed his hope for further abolition of capital punishment in countries worldwide. Monsignor Swetland believes that these recent papal statements represent a development in the Church’s teaching on the state’s legitimate use of capital punishment.   “My theological opinion, as someone who teaches moral theology and social ethics in particular, is that we’re undergoing a development of doctrine here,” he told CNA. When the Church’s teaching has developed over time on issues such as the morality of slavery and torture, “we go from the more permissive to the less permissive,” he said, “meaning that we come to recognize that the demands of charity and mercy and justice are more demanding than we thought before.” “And so while for a while Catholic teaching permitted slavery under some specific, restricted conditions, it came to see through faith and time – same thing with torture – through faith and time that it was always and everywhere wrong.” Monsignor Swetland believes a similar shift is happening in the Church’s teaching on the use of the death penalty. But he clarified that it fundamentally differs from other uses of force, such as just war or the defense of innocent life. “The state and the actors for the state have to intend death as the end in death penalty,” he said, but in the case of a just war or a policemen defending innocents, the actor intends to “stop the assailant from doing harm” and death is accepted as a “side consequence” and a “last resort.” Once the threat to innocent life is neutralized, they do what they can to preserve the life of the assailant. “We have to stand strongly and say death is never a solution to our problems,” he continued. “Modern society is tempted to say death is a solution to our problems … but what the Church is coming to recognize is that we have to be consistent and say death is never a solution. To intend death is always wrong.” Read more

Sacramento, Calif., Jan 7, 2016 / 02:19 am (CNA/EWTN News).- California’s Catholic bishops rallied opponents of the state’s assisted suicide law on Tuesday to continue their efforts to correct lawmakers’ “grave mistake.” T... Read more

Washington D.C., Jan 6, 2016 / 05:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. chief religious freedom watchdog condemned Saudi Arabia’s Jan. 2 execution of a Shi’a Muslim cleric as a violation of religious freedom, and called for global respect for human rights. “Sheik al-Nimr's execution blatantly disregards the right to dissent and the right to religious freedom of Shi'a Muslims in the country and, as our State Department has noted and events tragically have documented, contributes to sectarian discord both within Saudi Arabia and in the region,” Robert P. George, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), stated on Tuesday.  George called on Saudi Arabia “to honor international standards of justice and ensure the religious freedom and equal protection rights of everyone in the Kingdom, including its Shi'a Muslim citizens.” Tensions in the region escalated quickly after Saudi Arabia’s mass execution of 47 men on Jan. 2 included Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a Shi’a cleric and long-time activist for Shi’a rights in the kingdom who has been a public critic of the government.  Al-Nimr was convicted in 2012 by the non-Sharia Specialized Criminal Court on various charges including “inciting sectarian strife” and civil disobedience, according to USCIRF’s 2015 annual report. The court was created in 2008 to try terrorism offences, but it has increasingly been used to convict dissidents without a proper trial, USCIRF noted.  In response, outraged Iranians stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran and torched the building. Saudi Arabia responded by severing diplomatic ties with Iran on Jan. 4, and Bahrain, Djibouti, and the Sudan followed suit. Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Iran. “Sheikh al-Nimr's trial and his execution raise serious due process and religious freedom concerns,” George stated, calling the charges “vague and questionable” and saying they did not meet the standards for capital punishment set by international human rights law. The U.S. State Department responded to the execution by calling for greater respect for human rights. “We are particularly concerned that the execution of prominent Shia cleric and political activist Nimr al-Nimr risks exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced,” said Jon Kirby, spokesperson for the Bureau of Public Affairs, in a Jan. 2 statement.  Saudi Arabia’s Shi’a Muslim minority suffers various repressions of religious freedom – they are largely prohibited from building mosques and have been imprisoned by the government for calling for reform or even practicing their religion at home, according to USCIRF. “The Shi'a community also faces discrimination in education, employment, the military, political representation, and the judiciary,” the commission noted.  Non-Muslim religions cannot build churches or public houses of worship in Saudi Arabia, and the government cracks down on blasphemy, sorcery, dissent, and apostasy, even treating acts of atheism and blasphemy as terrorism.  The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reaffirmed its recommendation that Saudi Arabia be designated as a “country of particular concern” for its serious and ongoing violations of religious freedom. The State Department’s “Country of Particular Concern” list recognizes nations’ poor human rights records regarding religious freedom, and actions can be taken against such countries, including economic sanctions or a bilateral agreement.  Although Saudi Arabia is currently on the CPC list, a waiver has prevented the mandated action against them from taking place since 2006.   Read more

Washington D.C., Jan 6, 2016 / 05:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. chief religious freedom watchdog condemned Saudi Arabia’s Jan. 2 execution of a Shi’a Muslim cleric as a violation of religious freedom, and called for global respect for human rights. “Sheik al-Nimr's execution blatantly disregards the right to dissent and the right to religious freedom of Shi'a Muslims in the country and, as our State Department has noted and events tragically have documented, contributes to sectarian discord both within Saudi Arabia and in the region,” Robert P. George, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), stated on Tuesday.  George called on Saudi Arabia “to honor international standards of justice and ensure the religious freedom and equal protection rights of everyone in the Kingdom, including its Shi'a Muslim citizens.” Tensions in the region escalated quickly after Saudi Arabia’s mass execution of 47 men on Jan. 2 included Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a Shi’a cleric and long-time activist for Shi’a rights in the kingdom who has been a public critic of the government.  Al-Nimr was convicted in 2012 by the non-Sharia Specialized Criminal Court on various charges including “inciting sectarian strife” and civil disobedience, according to USCIRF’s 2015 annual report. The court was created in 2008 to try terrorism offences, but it has increasingly been used to convict dissidents without a proper trial, USCIRF noted.  In response, outraged Iranians stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran and torched the building. Saudi Arabia responded by severing diplomatic ties with Iran on Jan. 4, and Bahrain, Djibouti, and the Sudan followed suit. Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Iran. “Sheikh al-Nimr's trial and his execution raise serious due process and religious freedom concerns,” George stated, calling the charges “vague and questionable” and saying they did not meet the standards for capital punishment set by international human rights law. The U.S. State Department responded to the execution by calling for greater respect for human rights. “We are particularly concerned that the execution of prominent Shia cleric and political activist Nimr al-Nimr risks exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced,” said Jon Kirby, spokesperson for the Bureau of Public Affairs, in a Jan. 2 statement.  Saudi Arabia’s Shi’a Muslim minority suffers various repressions of religious freedom – they are largely prohibited from building mosques and have been imprisoned by the government for calling for reform or even practicing their religion at home, according to USCIRF. “The Shi'a community also faces discrimination in education, employment, the military, political representation, and the judiciary,” the commission noted.  Non-Muslim religions cannot build churches or public houses of worship in Saudi Arabia, and the government cracks down on blasphemy, sorcery, dissent, and apostasy, even treating acts of atheism and blasphemy as terrorism.  The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reaffirmed its recommendation that Saudi Arabia be designated as a “country of particular concern” for its serious and ongoing violations of religious freedom. The State Department’s “Country of Particular Concern” list recognizes nations’ poor human rights records regarding religious freedom, and actions can be taken against such countries, including economic sanctions or a bilateral agreement.  Although Saudi Arabia is currently on the CPC list, a waiver has prevented the mandated action against them from taking place since 2006.   Read more

Omaha, Neb., Jan 6, 2016 / 06:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As the Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA) weighs new protocol for transgender students’ participation in school activities, the Catholic bishops of Nebraska have urged respect for t... Read more