Philadelphia, Pa., Aug 24, 2015 / 04:27 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In his nearly two-and-a-half year papacy, Pope Francis has spoken countless times about bringing the hope of Christ to society's most wounded and forgotten. With a life-sized cut-out of the Pope, and a combination of social media and street evangelization, one small initiative is doing just that. The website for PopUpPope features hundreds of photos of people posing with cardboard cut-outs of Pope Francis. However, for co-founder Christa Scalies, the initiative is more than giving people the chance to take a “selfie” with the pontiff. It's all about the encounter. “We have sort of the curiosity-seekers,” said Philadelphia-native Scalies in an interview with CNA, “the tourists, the people who love Pope Francis, and other people that will just be drawn in.” “If we could utilize a cardboard image of the Pope, on the street, to engage people in conversation, if they’re interested in coming, getting a photo, talking with us, and it gives them a happy moment,” she said, it “engages them in some sort of conversation.” The most meaningful interactions are with the suffering: the homeless, the drug-addicted, and those suffering from mental health issues, she said.  Co-founder Paul Turner, a catechist, wheelchair bound, and formerly homeless himself, is able to direct the poor and homeless they meet to resources they might need. “For me, those are the best encounters,” Scalies said, because these are the people who may be hopeless. “They might not believe in God. “They might not have any faith. But, (it is having) an encounter with another human being that says: I see you, I recognize you.” “We ask them their name,” she said. PopUpPope was inspired partly by Pope Francis' upcoming trip to the U.S. September 22-27, which will culminate in his visit to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families. The idea further materialized when Scalies and Turner, who are both currently based in Wilmington, Delaware, found images of people in the Philippines posing with cardboard cut-outs of Pope Francis, posted around the time of his pastoral visit to the Asian nation. “Our concept is that we want to be able to engage with people right there, on the spot, and have a conversation with them, pray with them,” Scalies explained, adding that they will sometimes quote from the Bible and other inspirational sayings. “Our intention isn’t to proselytize and take out a Bible and say, ‘You have to believe this!’ It’s about connecting, and love, and mercy. That’s really what it’s about for us.” Going out as a team into the streets of Wilmington, Delaware, they are prepared if the conversation goes in the direction of faith, she said. “Paul is a catechist, and can engage in those conversations.” “On the other hand we thought, if it gives us the opportunity of something that’s new, to engage somebody that might not normally be drawn to a cardboard image of a Pope, it gives us a chance to engage them in conversation, and give us an opportunity to offer them some personal hope.” Unlike other initiatives which set up “selfie stations” for people looking to take their photo with the cardboard Pope facsimile, Scalies and Turner go out to the streets with the Pope Francis cut-out, and use people’s reactions as an opportunity to interact with them. Scalies recalled one instance of a man named Joseph who approached them during one day of street evangelization. “We talked to him. He looked over to me and said: ‘Can I have a hug?’” In another instance, a woman came up to the PopUpPope team, mesmerized by the image of Pope Francis, Scalies said. “She started to engage us in conversation, and was explaining to us – even though she wasn't Catholic – how much she loves the Pope, and admires the Pope, and how touched she was.” While taking a photo with the cardboard Pope, “she just stood up and looked at him,” she said. “You could tell there was something spiritual happening for her at that moment.” Scalies attributes these encounters, not to herself, but to the image of Pope Francis. “It was because we were out on the street engaging people, and opened ourselves up to having that encounter with people on the street.” “That’s what the Pope has asked us to do,” she said: “To literally take it to the street.” This enthusiasm surrounding Pope Francis served, in part, as the inspiration behind the name, PopUpPope. “Because it’s cardboard, it literally folds on itself, and then pops into place,” she said. “The other part of that logic was, when the Pope 'pops up' somewhere in the world, people get excited.”   Read more

Denver, Colo., Aug 23, 2015 / 06:40 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Hundreds of demonstrations were held outside of Planned Parenthood clinics across the U.S. this weekend with protesters calling on the federal government to stop funding the abortion giant. &nbsp... Read more

San Francisco, Calif., Aug 23, 2015 / 06:07 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Efforts to promote Catholic culture in the San Francisco archdiocese’s high schools and to agree on a contract acceptable for the schools’ teachers concluded on Wednesday with a new contract.   The months-long dispute months drew protests, interference from activist groups, and the attention of wealthy critics of Catholic teaching. “I want to thank the union and administration negotiating teams for their hard work over the past few months in coming to this agreement. They have negotiated just wages and benefits for our high school teachers, who are among the finest teachers in northern California,” Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said Aug. 19. The archbishop said he appreciated “very much” the negotiations’ “rich discussion about the mission and purpose of Catholic education and the vital role that our high school teachers play in carrying out that mission.” He said the discussions “reinforced and clarified” the purposes and roles that were referenced in previous contracts. “I pass on my special thanks to all our teachers who ratified this agreement,” Archbishop Cordileone said. The teachers ratified the three-year contract by a vote of 90 to 80. The contract covers teachers at the Archdiocese of San Francisco's four Catholic high schools. It provides a two percent pay raise in each of the three years. Disputes over teacher conduct both in the workplace and outside of the workplace would be governed by grievance procedures, SFGate.com reports. The contract says the purpose of Catholic schools is “to affirm Catholic values through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” It says that teachers are expected to support the school’s purpose “in such a way that their personal conduct will not adversely impact their ability to teach in our Catholic high schools.” The contract did not include specific morality clauses, the news site SFGate.com reports. The archdiocese’s first proposed of the teacher contracts identified teachers as having a “ministerial role.” The language echoed a 2012 Supreme Court decision which recognized that teachers at religious schools can be held to standards of behavior without putting religious schools at risk of employment lawsuits. The initial version of the San Francisco archdiocese faculty handbooks also explained Catholic teaching on controversial issues such as Catholic religious doctrine, sexual morality, and the ethics of assisted reproductive technologies, such as IVF. These passages were particularly criticized and the archdiocese later modified the handbooks. The emphasis on Catholic teaching caused strong reaction among some in San Francisco, a city known for its dedication to LGBT advocacy and for its strong taboos against traditional Christianity and sexual morality. The agreement on the contract closes a period of protests and critical media coverage. Ted deSaulnier, an executive member of the teachers’ union and a religion teacher at Archbishop Riordan High School, supported the contract. “I believe in the end the archbishop compromised and that we negotiated in good faith and he did as well,” he told SFGate. “I want the most protection for any Catholic school teacher to have the fullest and most complete private life they can have,” adding that “Our contract is not going to solve the conflict between a 2,000-year-old religious institution and the changing landscape of civil rights in the United States.” Nina Russo, the archdiocese’s interim superintendent of schools, said the archdiocese looks forward “to our students returning to a year of learning and rich, meaningful experiences in both academics and school life.” “We appreciate the concerted efforts of teachers and school leadership to prepare for this new school opening with the highest degree of commitment and professionalism,” she said. In the initial controversy, some local politicians threatened legal action against the archdiocese, and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution critical of the handbook changes. More than 350 employees, about 80 percent of the staff and faculty at the archdiocese’s four high schools, signed a petition against the handbook additions. Some students, teachers, and parents also engaged in several protests. Archbishop Cordileone also drew support from many Catholics, including hundreds of supporters who attended a May picnic. Some of the archbishop’s supporters did not speak out for fear social and career pressure. Sam Singer, founder of the influential San Francisco-based communications firm Singer Associates, told the SF Weekly in February that “concerned parents” were paying for his services in their dispute with the archbishop. Singer’s social media accounts publicized negative interpretations of the archbishop and the archdiocese while promoting stories siding with the protesters. At one point, dozens of prominent San Franciscans, including several Catholics, took out a full-page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle. The ad, an open letter, asked Pope Francis to remove Archbishop Cordileone. Long before the schools controversy, some critics have faulted the archbishop for his support of marriage as a union of one man and one woman in state law. Archbishop Cordileone has headed the San Francisco archdiocese since 2012, and has served on the U.S. bishops’ committee for the defense of marriage, as well as on a governing body for Courage, a ministry for people with same-sex attraction who want to live a life consistent with Catholic faith and morals. The archbishop is one of the U.S. bishops’ alternate delegates to the 2015 Synod on the Family. Read more

Washington D.C., Aug 22, 2015 / 05:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- International hotel and resort chain Hilton Worldwide has changed its policies to eliminate on-demand video pornography from its hotel rooms across the globe, according to an advocacy group. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation announced the reported decision, saying that it “is grateful to Hilton for its decision to no longer seek profits from hardcore pornography.” “We want to publicly thank Hilton for its decision to create a safe and positive environment for all of its customers,” said Dawn Hawkins, the group’s executive director, in an Aug. 17 statement. “Hilton has taken a stand against sexual exploitation. Pornography not only contributes to the demand for sex trafficking, which is a serious concern in hotels, but it also contributes to child exploitation, sexual violence, and lifelong porn addictions,” Hawkins continued.   The connection between pornography and sexual exploitation has gained increasing attention in recent years. In 2012, Catholic law professor Robert P. George of Princeton teamed up with prominent Muslim intellectual Shaykh Hamza Yusuf in writing letters to the CEOs of major hotel chains asking them to consider removing hotel room pornography, noting its “degrading, dehumanizing” and objectifying nature. Pornography policies in U.S. hotel chains vary. Omni Hotels and Resorts stopped selling pornography in 1998 because the CEO believed that it was wrong to sell it. Marriot has said it is “phasing out” pornography sales, while the Hilton chain had previously defended its continued sales. In 2013, Nordic Hotels – a major Scandinavian hotel chain – announced that it was eliminating pay-per-view pornography channels from its 171 hotels. “The porn industry contributes to trafficking, so I see it as a natural part of having a social responsibility to send out a clear signal that Nordic Hotels doesn't support or condone this,” said Petter Stordalen, the owner of Nordic Hotels. He said he decided to stop selling the material after he started to work with UNICEF’s campaign to help the child victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, who number over 1.2 million annually, the British newspaper The Guardian reported. CNA contacted Hilton Worldwide about the reported change in policy, but did not receive a response by deadline.   Read more