Washington D.C., Aug 3, 2015 / 10:57 am (CNA).- Fifty-one percent of the reported fire incidents at U.S. houses of worship between 1996 and 2015 were determined to be caused by arson, according to a recent analysis by the Pew Research Center. Church... Read more
Washington D.C., Aug 2, 2015 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Dissenting Catholic groups have called for gay marriage to be recognized as a sacrament, but Catholic theology has a clear priority: marriage is God's creation – and not even the Church can change that. Dr. John Grabowski, a professor of moral theology at Catholic University of America, said that the push for “sacramental equality” by groups such as Dignity USA shows “a lack of understanding of what the Church is and the nature of the Church and what the sacraments are.” “'Marriage equality' made for a good slogan, but in the Church's understanding, marriage is not something that can be 'redefined'; if you will, by interest groups, by government, or even by the Church itself,” he told CNA July 29. Dignity USA on July 5 announced support for “full access to marriage and ordination” in the Catholic Church. The group’s annual convention, held in Seattle, approved a resolution that said Catholic leaders should “ensure that all of the sacraments of our Church be administered regardless of the gender identity, sexual orientation, or relational status of the person(s) seeking the sacrament.” The group already rejects Catholic teaching on the immorality of homosexual acts. Marianne Duddy-Burke, Dignity USA's executive director, claimed that LGBT people are “officially banned from marriage and ordination” and often denied other sacraments. “We can’t be fully equal if we are barred from any of our Church’s sacraments,” she said. Her statement cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s recognition of civil same-sex marriage in June as a precedent for cultural change. Grabowski said Dignity USA’s position was “unfortunate.” He said that marriage has been “created by God” and no one can reconfigure or redefine it. The Catholic understanding of marriage draws from the Book of Genesis in which God creates man as male and female and commands them to “be fruitful and multiply,” he explained. Marriage reflects God as “a communion of persons” and a “unity of love.” Marriage is how man and woman “participate in his great capacity to create new life in God’s image,” said Grabowski. Jesus Christ teaches this understanding of marriage in the Gospel of Mark, when he cites Genesis. Grabowski said Catholic morality distinguishes between different forms of discrimination. “Unjust discrimination is always morally evil, but not all distinction is discriminatory and unjust,” he said. Elk Stanley, senior legal counsel with the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, said that Catholic individuals and organizations can face can face lawsuits and other threats due to non-discrimination laws and ordinances regarding employment and places of public accommodation. But he did not think Dignity USA’s position would pose a problem for the legal defense of Catholic groups or individuals that support Catholic teaching. “It is difficult to predict what will sway judges, regulators, or legislators,” Stanley said. “Legislators and others have attempted to cite churches that have left the evangelical Protestant teaching on marriage as proof that churches are changing their ways. But this is probably less of a concern for the Catholic Church which has been clear for hundreds of years regarding its doctrine as it relates to marriage and human sexuality.” “Absent a change from the leadership of the Catholic Church on these issues, the voice of one dissident group will not likely be attributed as Catholic church doctrine,” Stanley told CNA July 29. Grabowski saw the move to change marriage in the Catholic Church as a consequence of the June 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision. However, he said it also reflects cultural trends dating back five or six decades. Contraception and no-fault divorce already represented a cultural definition of marriage. Dignity USA’s endorsement of “sacramental equality” drew support from another dissenting Catholic group, New Ways Ministry, in a July 8 statement from its executive director Francis DeBernardo. Both groups are part of the Equally Blessed Coalition. Their financial backers include the Arcus Foundation, which gave the coalition a $200,000 grant intended “to support pro-LGBT faith advocates to influence and counter the narrative of the Catholic Church and its ultra-conservative affiliates.” The advocacy efforts are connected with the Synod on the Family and World Youth Day, according to the grant listing on the foundation’s website. The foundation has helped fund advocates of doctrinal and liturgical change within other religious denominations, including the Episcopal Church. The Arcus Foundation is also pursuing a strategy of combating religious freedom exemptions. Its partners in worldwide LGBT activism include the U.S. State Department’s Global Equality Fund. Read more
Vatican City, Aug 2, 2015 / 09:59 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Delivering his weekly Angelus address in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Pope Francis said that while everyone feels shame before going to Confession, this grace helps us to be open to God’s forgiveness. “There are people who are afraid of approaching Confession, forgetting that there, we do not encounter severe judgement, but the immensely merciful Father,” the Roman Pontiff said Aug. 2, speaking to the crowds who had braved the hot Roman sun. “It is true that when we go to Confession, we feel a little shameful. This happens to all, to all of us, but we must remember that even this shame is a grace which prepares us for the embrace of the Father, who always forgives and always forgives everyone.” Speaking after leading the recitation of the Angelus prayer, the Pope noted that today is, in the Franciscan tradition, the feast of Our Lady of the Angels of Porziuncola and its associated indulgence; he used the occasion to remind the faithful of the importance of Confession. The feast marks the dedication of the Porziuncola or “little portion,” a small parish church which is one of those St. Francis of Assisi rebuilt in obedience to Christ's command to “rebuild my church.” “It is a powerful reminder to bring ourselves closer to the Lord in the Sacrament of Mercy, and to receive Communion,” Pope Francis said. Before leading the faithful in the Angelus, Pope Francis spoke on the day’s Gospel according to St. John, centering his reflection on the importance of finding lasting sustenance in Christ as the “Bread of Life.” The Roman Pontiff recounted the Gospel passage, which takes place shortly after Christ multiplied the loaves and fishes to feed the multitudes, who then continued to follow him. Those who followed Christ after having received “material bread,” he said, “did not understand that this bread, broken for many, for many, was an expression of the love of Jesus himself. They gave more value to that bread than to the giver.” In order to get past this “spiritual blindness,” he continued, Christ calls the people to discover and understand the one who gives the bread. “God is the gift, and also the giver.” It is “from this bread, this act” that the people are able to discover God, who gives the bread, Pope Francis said. Christ invites us to be open to another perspective, not solely based on concerns about food, clothing, success, or career, the Roman Pontiff added. Rather: “Jesus speaks of another food; he speaks of a food that is not corruptible, and which is good to seek and receive.” The Pope cited the Gospel reading, in which Christ exhorts us not to “labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life.” In other words, the Roman Pontiff said: “Seek salvation, the encounter with God.” Pope Francis said Christ's words are to help us understand that while we all experience the need to satiate our physical hunger, the “hunger for life” and eternity are more important, and cannot be fulfilled with ordinary food. Christ's words do not take away our concerns when it comes to our “daily bread,” the Pope said, but they invite us to consider how our lives are directed toward eternity. “Jesus reminds us that the true meaning of our earthly existence is that human history, with its sufferings and joys, must be seen on the horizon of eternity, that is, in the horizon of the definitive encounter with him.” “And this encounter illumines all the days of our life,” the Roman Pontiff said. Making reference to the Eucharist, Pope Francis added, Christ says he is the Bread of Life, the “greatest gift which satiates the soul and the body.” Not only does this Bread of Life give us meaning in hope amid life’s often “tortuous” journey, but in the task of announcing the Gospel to our brothers and sisters so that their “spiritual and material hunger” may be satisfied. Pope Francis concluded his address by asking Mary for help in following her son, the True Bread which “does not corrupt, and endures for eternal life.” Read more
Vatican City, Aug 2, 2015 / 04:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Saint John Paul II's historic embrace of former chief rabbi of Rome Elio Toaff welcomes visitors to a new Vatican exhibition on the late Pope's compelling relationship with the Jewish people. The moment is reminiscent of an earlier, childhood friendship that likely laid the foundation for many of the symbolic acts that John Paul II would make toward Jews as Pope. Entitled “A Blessing to One Another,” the exhibit begins with John Paul II and Toaff's embrace, which took place when the saintly Bishop of Rome became the first Pope to ever enter a synagogue April 13, 1986. It then traces back through the history of St. John Paul II's friendship with the Jewish people, with particular emphasis on his childhood friend Jerzy Kluger. Located at the Braccio di Carlo Magno – the left-side corridor of Saint Peter's Basilica – the exhibit was originally installed in 18 different locations in the United States, where it attracted more than 1 million visitors. It will be open in Rome until Sept. 17, 2015. It was installed in the Vatican in honor of the 50th anniversary of the promulgation of the Second Vatican Council document Nostra Aetate, issued Oct. 28, 1965. A declaration on the interaction of the Catholic Church with non-Christian religions, Nostra Aetate marked a new era in Catholic-Jewish relations. Jewish-Christian relations had developed significantly under Bl. Paul VI, who was the first Pope to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, however St. John Paul II gave a definitive impetus to this new era. Coming from the small Polish town of Wadowice, which had a strong Jewish community, John Paul II from a young age had become very close friends with Jerzy Kluger, who was Jewish. The two lost contact with one another during the Second World War, but reconnected again in Rome, where Kluger had moved and where the then-Bishop Karol Wojtyla was taking part in the Second Vatican Council. The story of this friendship is traced throughout the entire exhibition, with one part dedicated entirely to Kluger. Although he passed away in 2011, Kugler recounted the story of his friendship with the late Pope in a video interview, during which he specifically recalled his first meeting John Paul right after he was elected Pope. One of the first meetings a new elected Pope holds is with the community of his home country, and St. John Paul II held a meeting with Poles in Rome. “I was obviously called to take part in the meeting, and I was called to greet the Pope. The meeting was warm, and Italian newspaper headlined: ‘The Pope greets his Jewish friend first,’” Kruger said. This first encounter set the tone of St. John Paul II’s relationship with the Jewish community, which culminated when he became the first Pope to a visit a synagogue in 1986. “We see the pictures of the event, of the embrace between John Paul II and Rabbi Elio Toaff, and it seems to us something normal. But it was not normal, it was epic,” the current Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, said at the July 28 presentation the exhibition. “It was the moment when the dialogue among theologians had turned into facts,” he said. The multisensory exhibit is divided into four sections, called “chapters.” The first covers from 1920 to 1938, the years of Karol Wojtyla’s childhood in Wadowice. The second chapter is dedicated to 1939 until 1945, the time of World War II. It was during those years Karol Wojtyla matured is vocation, but also witnessed the suffering of the Jewish people. A section of this chapter in the exhibit shows one of the prisoner suits used in Auschwitz. The third Chapter is wider, and goes from 1946 to 1978, which are the years of Karol Wojtyla’s priesthood and his time as bishop until he was elected Pope. His papacy is explored in the fourth chapter. A banner is also hung indicating a list of papal-firsts in St. John Paul II’s relationship with the Jews. In 1979 he was the first Pope to go to Auschwitz and pay homage to the Jewish people who died in the extermination camps; in 1986 he became the first Pope to enter a Synagogue; he was the first Pope to acknowledge the State of Israel in 1993 and was the first Pope who publicly recalled “The Shoah,” or Holocaust, at the Vatican in 1994. The banner also highlights how John Paul II was also the first Pope to host and honor a long-term Jewish friend in a Pontifical residence. James Buchanan, a professor at Xavier University of Cincinnati, Ohio and curator of the exhibition, explained at the exhibit’s launch that its message, as well as that of John Paul II, “is that the responsibility of dialogue with the other falls upon each of us. More importantly it falls upon each of us each us to pass this message on through our children.” One of the central ideas of the exhibit, he said, “is that what we teach our children, how we raise them, with whom we raise them, and how we teach them to deal with others is of critical importance to their future.” However, St. John Paul II’s friendship with Kugler is the real leit motiv of the exhibition. William Madges of St. Joseph University of Philadelphia and also a curator of the exhibit, explained that the friendship between the two was emphasized “because we believe that this special relationship, together with the Holy Father’s family upbringing, created in him a profound respect for the Jewish community that remained with him his entire life.” The 10th anniversary of the St. John Paul II’s death is also marked in the exhibit. The idea for the exhibition was conceived before the pontiff’s death, and was presented to him as an honor for his 85th birthday. However, St. John Paul II was never able to see how the exhibition turned out, as he died shortly before the installation was completed. Read more
Beirut, Lebanon, Aug 1, 2015 / 03:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In a rare move, the Armenian Catholic Church has pulled their new patriarch from out of retirement to take on the role as their new head. Church leaders cited his energy and authority as necessary when dealing with current issues, particularly those in the Middle East. Gregory Peter XX Ghabroyan was elected Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians July 24. He succeeds former patriarch Nerses Pierre XIX Tarmouni, who died June 25. The patriarch is head of the Armenian Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Pope. The Church uses the Armenian rite, and is estimated to have 1 million followers. “The patriarch was born in 1934, which makes him 80 years old, and in November he will be 81. However, you have to know this person to be able to understand why he was elected,” Fr. Thomas Garabedian told CNA July 28. “When he talks he talks with authority. He has the charisma to have people listen to him and to appreciate what he’s saying to them. He’s a person that when he talks to you, he convinces you.” Fr. Garabedian, chancellor for the Armenian Eparchy of Our Lady of Nareg in Glendale, praised the new patriarch for his organization, discipline, spiritual devoutness, and energy, despite his advanced age. “At 80 years old … the physical vigor he has is of someone who is in his 50s or 60s,” Fr. Garabedian said. “He wakes up early and goes to bed a little late, so his whole day is filled with work. It’s really somebody who is very well disciplined and authoritative who we needed at this one juncture of our life in the Armenian Catholic Church.” Born in Aleppo, Patriarch Ghabroyan had been retired for two years prior to his election last week. He had been ordained a priest of the Institute of Patriarchal Clergy of Bzommar in 1959, at the age of 24. In 1977 he was ordained a bishop and appointed the Armenian Apostolic Exarch of France. He stepped down as the Armenian Eparch of France in 2013, however his election as patriarch now pulls him out of retirement. Patriarch Ghabroyan will be installed at the Armenian monastery of Bzommar in Lebanon, the official seat of his patriarchate. However, due to practical reasons and the fact that most of the 12,000 Lebanese members of the Church live in Beirut, 20 miles away, the patriarch will likely spend the majority his time there, Fr. Garabedian explained. In attendance at the ceremony, which will take place Aug. 9, will be the Vatican’s ambassador to Lebanon, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia. The decision to elect someone as patriarch who has already gone into retirement is “very uncommon,” Fr. Garabedian noted, though he added that discussions ahead of the synod that elected him gave clues as to what the bishops were looking for. Fr. Garabedian explained that in the Armenian Catholic Church, the synod convenes each time the bishops meet to discuss and make decisions on current issues, and a general synod is typically held once a year. All but two of the 15 members of the Armenian synod of bishops were present in Lebanon to elect the patriarch. Under the Code of Canon Law of the Eastern Churches, the bishops are given 15 days once the synod begins to select a new patriarch, who must be elected by a two thirds vote. Should the synod fail to elect a new patriarch within the 15 days, the matter is then turned over to the Holy See, who selects a person to fill the role. Patriarch Ghabroyan is “definitely the man for the job,” Fr. Garabedian said, noting that he has the skills needed to meet the current challenges the Armenian Catholic Church faces. The first of these challenges, he said, is the crisis in the Middle East. “The Middle East today is not the Middle East of 10 or 20 or 30 years ago … there is a sense of loss in the Middle East as far as the Christian community is concerned. People in these countries don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Bombs, killings, ISIS, all these situations.” He also pointed to the high number of refugees pouring out of Syria due to its civil war, which he called “the most dramatic situation of any country today on earth.” With roughly 2 million of those refugees now in Lebanon, “you need a patriarch who is first of all able to lead his faithful in this very dire situation,” as well as to manage the internal life of the Church, the priest said. Current internal issues the Armenian Catholic Church faces are how to distribute a diminishing number of clergy, how to regain those who have left the Church, as well as managing relations with Armenia. In Armenia, 93 percent of the population belongs to the Armenian Apostolic Church – an Oriental Orthodox Church from which the Armenian Catholic Church was formed in the 18th century. “We have a very large Armenian Catholic community in Armenia – how do you cooperate with the Armenian [Apostolic] Church without making them feel that you are there to proselytize, when in reality you are there only to take care of the spiritual needs of your faithful?” These are all topics Fr. Garabedian said the new patriarch will be able to handle with his diplomatic skills, his ability to fund raise, and his devout spiritual life. “He’s a great administrator, so I think with his administration and his diplomacy and also with his spiritual life, I think those could be three things he could use to make things happen.” Pope Francis sent a letter July 25 congratulating Patriarch Ghabroyan on his election, and granting him full ecclesial communion with Rome. He noted how the patriarch’s election comes at a time when the Armenian Catholic Church is facing new difficulties and challenges, particularly in the Middle East. However, with the light of faith in the Risen Christ, “our outlook on the world is full of hope and mercy, for we are certain that the Cross of Jesus is the tree that gives life,” the Pope said. “I am sure that Your Beatitude, in communion with the venerable Synod Fathers, with the help of the Holy Spirit and with evangelical wisdom, will know how to be the 'Pater et Caput,” (Father and Head), the Good Shepherd to that part of the People of God entrusted to you.” Francis called on the intercession of the Armenian martyrs and St. Gregory of Narek, whom he recently declared a Doctor of the Church, to intercede for the patriarch, and entrusted his new ministry to the protection of Mary, the Mother of God. Read more
Santa Fe, NM, Aug 1, 2015 / 04:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Billy the Kid, a notorious bank and stage-coach robber of the Wild West, met his match in the most unlikely of people when he met Sister Blandina Segale. According to legend, and to Sr. Blandina's journal and letters, one of Billy the Kid's gang members had been shot and was on the brink of death when the doctors of Trinidad, Colo. refused to treat him. Sister decided to take him in and cared for him for three months, nursing him back to health. But Billy the Kid (William Leroy) was still unhappy. Word got out that the outlaw was coming to town to scalp the four doctors of Trinidad in revenge. When he arrived, Sr. Blandina intervened, and convinced him to call off his mission on behalf of his man she had saved. After that incident, Sr. Blandina and Billy the Kid became friends. She once visited him in jail, and he once called off a stage-coach robbery as soon as he realized Sister was one of the passengers. When she wasn't calling off outlaws, Sr. Blandina was founding schools, building hospitals, teaching and caring for orphans and the poor, and advocating for the rights of Native Americans and other minorities. All in a day’s work. Her heroic virtue and enduring works are why her cause for sainthood was opened in New Mexico last summer, earning her the title “Servant of God” and allowing people to ask for her intercession. Since then, several documents have come to light corroborating her stories, and the necessary miracle for the next big step – beatification – seems to be well on its way. “Sainthood isn’t about an award, it isn’t about honoring, it’s about helping the faithful know that there is a source of God’s grace being worked on Earth,” said Allen Sanchez, president and CEO for CHI St. Joseph's Children in Albuquerque, which Sr. Blandina founded. Sanchez also serves as the petitioner for the cause of Sister’s sainthood and has studied her life extensively.Her early years Sr. Blandina, born Maria Rosa Segale, was just four years old when she emigrated with her parents from the small town of Cicagna, Italy to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1854 (she had her 5th birthday on the boat ride over). At the age of 16, Maria Rosa joined the Sisters of Charity and took the name Sr. Blandina. When she was just 22 years old, she was sent – alone – to Trinidad in Colo. territory to teach in the public school there. A few years later, she was sent further south, first to Santa Fe and then to Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was probably quite an adjustment, Sanchez said, going from Europe and the more settled parts of America to the still very rough-and-tumble west. While in New Mexico, Sr. Blandina helped found the public health care system and the public school system by building the first hospitals and schools in Albuquerque, often asking for the temporary release of prisoners to help her with the labor. Much of what is known about Sr. Blandina’s life comes from a series of letters she wrote her sister, Sr. Justina Segale, who was back in Ohio. The compiled correspondences, which span the years of 1872-1894, were published ten years before Sr. Blandina’s death in 1941. “You’re able to see the history of New Mexico happening within her interactions,” Sanchez said.Sister stops a lynch mob To open a cause for sainthood, examples of heroic virtue of the person must be shown. The specific example of heroic virtue that her petitioners are using involves another story that could only take place in the Wild West; the story that earned her the title “The Fastest Nun in the West” from a 1966 CBS feature on the incident. Sr. Blandina was teaching school in New Mexico when one of her pupils told her, “Pa’s shot a man, and they’re going to hang him.” That’s when Sr. Blandina went to work. She met with the shooter, and was able to convince him to write a confession. She then met with the dying man, and convinced him to forgive his shooter – in person – before he passed away. After the two men were reconciled, Sr. Blandina then had to face down the lynch mob that was coming to kill the shooter, who, because of Sister, was instead taken to the circuit court and was given life in prison. After nine months, he was released to go back home to care for his four children. “She disarms them from their guns, their hanging rope and their hate,” Sanchez said of sister and the lynch mob. “She must have been charming to them!” he added. “I think they would fall in love with her and do what she would ask them to do, because she cared for them and she honestly was able to see the dignity of every human being from the innocent orphans to the guilty outlaws.” Sr. Blandina also made several trips to Washington, D.C. to meet with legislators and to advocate on behalf of the Native Americans, whose reservation boundaries were being drawn at the time. And although her own life is being evaluated for sainthood, Sr. Blandina herself knew all about the canonization process – she helped to petition to Rome for the cause of two different saints in her lifetime; St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Kateri Tekakwitha. She also helped bring now-St. Katherine Drexel and her sisters to the West to help serve the Native American populations.The next step In order to be beatified – one step away from canonization – there needs to be proof of an otherwise – inexplicable miracle brought about through that person’s intercession. There are several possible examples of this being explored, which makes those petitioning for Sr. Blandina hopeful that her cause will advance quickly. “We know of a baby that was born prematurely with a malfunctioning valve in the heart and collapsed lungs,” Sanchez said. “This family immediately contacted us, said they were praying the Sr. Blandina novena for the baby. The doctors had very little hope for the baby living, but four days later they couldn’t find the problem in the heart, it was as if it didn’t exist to begin with. Doctors are saying it’s inexplicable, so we’re pursuing that, there’s many stories like that that are being pursued to see if Sr. Blandina was involved.” The example of her life on earth is also important for the faithful today, Sanchez said, because Sr. Blandina knew how to address both immediate problems as well as more systemic problems of social justice. “She would follow through from the charity to the social justice,” he said. “For example, she would help feed and house the railway workers, but then she would also ask why the railway workers weren’t being cared for. And that’s the call for us today. Charity is important, that’s where you start, and then you move to the social justice from there.” Sister’s cause for canonization may take several years, depending on the approval of her heroic virtue and miracles attributed to her intercession, but Sanchez said the board that is petitioning her cause is hopeful that things will progress quickly. “I’d say we’re more than halfway through the diocesan phase. For her to be called ‘venerable’, we just have to prove her heroic virtue, and we’re hoping we’ll be ready to present that to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for a vote in their November or spring meeting,” he said. If he had to describe her personality, Sanchez said, he would say she was tough but spunky, holy but unafraid of conflict. “She wasn’t afraid of conflict and to roll up her sleeves and get the work done,” he said. “And she was always giving credit to the Gospel, to Jesus’ work.” The best part of the process, Sanchez said, has been getting to know Sr. Blandina. “I didn’t know this was going to be so fun and so inspiring,” he said. “And I really know her; she’s become my best friend.” Read more
Washington D.C., Jul 31, 2015 / 05:31 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholic leaders are calling on Congress to raise the minimum wage, for the good of low-wage workers and their families. “An economy thrives only when it is centered on the dignity and well-being of the workers and families in it,” stated a letter to members of Congress from Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami and Sister Donna Markham, OP, president of Catholic Charities USA. Archbishop Wenski chairs the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. The current federal minimum wage is not enough for a father working full-time to raise a child out of poverty, the letter said. Furthermore, the wage is static and only increases when Congress raises it – it is not tied to inflation, meaning that in real terms, its falls every year. “This leads to increased demand for Charities’ services and reliance on the social safety net to make ends meet,” the letter added. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, enacted in 2009 as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act. President Obama has repeatedly pushed for Congress and businesses to raise the minimum wage, most recently calling for it to be hiked to over $10 an hour. In February, 2014 he signed an executive order raising the wage to $10.10 for federal contract workers. Minimum wage increases have sparked a debate about their influence on businesses and low-wage workers. Supporters argue that according to studies employment is not significantly affected by moderate wage increases, and that pay hikes benefit workers far more than any subsequent drop in employment rates may hurt them. Opponents claim that mandatory wage hikes disproportionately affect small businesses who may not have the resources to increase wages that big businesses have, and thus must cut low-wage jobs. Many low-wage workers are not fathers with children, they argue, but are younger, less experienced workers who would lose valuable work experience if their jobs were cut because of a wage increase. Certain businesses have already increased their minimum wages without any law being passed first. For example, the CEO of Seattle-based Gravity Payments made headlines earlier this year by taking a pay cut down to $70,000 a year from $1 million and giving all his employees a pay raise. In their letter to Congress, Archbishop Wenski and Sister Markham referenced St. John Paul II’s encyclical Centesimus Annus, which was written on the 100-year anniversary of the landmark social encyclical Rerum Novarum, on capital and labor. They quoted the encyclical that “society and the State must ensure wage levels adequate for the maintenance of the worker and his family, including a certain amount for savings.” “This requires a continuous effort to improve workers' training and capability so that their work will be more skilled and productive, as well as careful controls and adequate legislative measures to block shameful forms of exploitation, especially to the disadvantage of the most vulnerable workers,” the encyclical continued. Read more
Rome, Italy, Jul 31, 2015 / 02:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A priest has performed an aerial exorcism of the Italian seaside town of Castellammare di Stabia in response to a spree of church-targeted thefts and vandalism in the area. At the urging of a local prayer group, a priest took to a helicopter to perform a minor exorcism over the entire town, according Italian papers. “If Satan exists, he has taken control of Castellammare di Stabia,” the group said in a statement. “There was nothing left but to try the exorcist.” Carried out July 9, the exorcism was announced by the prayer group a week later. The area has long been plagued with violence from organized crime, but a series of thefts from churches, desecration of graves, crosses being turned upside down and statues of Mary being tossed over cliffs led locals to believe that something more sinister was at work. Locals are hoping that this act, along with increased devotion among the locals, will help turn around the town that has been in moral and economic decline for some time. Although the help of the helicopter is unique, it’s not the first time an exorcism has been performed over an entire city – or country. In May faithful in Mexico gathered for a nationwide exorcism, carried out quietly in the cathedral of San Luis Potosí by Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, the archbishop emeritus of Guadalajara. High levels of violence, as well as drug cartels and abortion in the country, were the motivation behind the special rite of exorcism, known as “Exorcismo Magno.” The closed-door May 20 ceremony was the first ever of its kind in Mexico. Spanish demonologist and exorcist Father José Antonio Fortea, attended the exorcism. He told CNA in an interview that “the exorcism performed in San Luís Potosí is the first ever carried out in Mexico in which the exorcists came from different parts of the country and gathered together to exorcise the powers of darkness, not from a person, but from the whole country.” He also spoke on how an entire country can become infested by demons to the point that it’s necessary to resort to an Exorcismo Magno. “To the extent sin increases more and more in a country, to that extent it becomes easier for the demons to tempt (people),” he said. He warned that “to the extent there is more witchcraft and Satanism going on in a country, to that extent there will be more extraordinary manifestations of those powers of darkness.” During the 12th annual conference for the International Association of Exorcists (AIE), held in Rome Oct. 20-25, 2014, the organization’s spokesman, Dr. Valter Cascioli, explained that occult activity has been on the rise in recent years. He said an increasing number of bishops and cardinals asked to participate in the conference due to an increase in demonic activity. “It’s becoming a pastoral emergency,” Cascioli told CNA. “At the moment the number of disturbances of extraordinary demonic activity is on the rise.” The rise in demonic activity can be attributed to a decreasing faith among individuals, coupled with an increase in curiosity and participation in occult activity such as Ouija boards and séances, he added. “It usually starts out of ignorance, superficiality, stupidity or proselytizing, actively participating or just watching,” he said, but “the consequences are always disastrous.” Many countries have voiced a need for more exorcists, including the Philippines. According to National Public Radio (NPR), the Philippine Office of Exorcism, headed by Father Jose Francisco Syquia, opened in 2006 to address a growing number of cases. Trained in Rome, the exorcist said that he has been expelling demonic spirits from people for more than 12 years, and has seen a steady increase in cases in the past decade, with 200 already this year. With only five exorcists managing all of the incoming cases, Syquia recently sent a letter to the Philippine bishops conference asking for one resident exorcist to be sent to each of the country's 86 dioceses. The majority of Philippine dioceses “do not have exorcists or a team of exorcists that deal with these kinds of cases. Therefore many of the Filipinos tend to go to the occult practitioners, what we call the faith healers, spiritists, etc.,” he said. The priest expressed his belief that the occult healers are responsible for the increased number of demonic possessions, saying that the healers leave a person with “spiritual openings” which allow demons to latch on. In addition to the nationwide exorcism of Mexico, there has also been talk of diocesan-wide exorcisms within the United States. Msgr. John Esseff, a priest for 62 years in the Diocese of Scranton, Pa., and an exorcist for more than 35 years, told the National Catholic Register that exorcisms such as the one done in Mexico “have helped bring awareness that there is such a thing as sin influenced by Satan.” “The devil has much to do with (influencing people in) breaking the law of God,” he said, but stressed that an exorcism over the United States would be unlikely. Rather, such actions can be done by each individual diocese, he said, and encouraged bishops to do so. “Every bishop is the chief exorcist of his own diocese. Anytime anyone with the authority uses his power against Satan, that is powerful. Every priest and bishop has that power.” Read more
Washington D.C., Dec 30, 2016 / 10:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- When Maggie* was in high school, she stayed after class to talk to ask a teacher what to do about a very personal concern she felt her physician was not taking seriously. What she learned led to the discovery of a brain tumor, and treatment for the growth, which had been affecting the teen for years. The tools she needed to find and treat this growth came from an awareness of her fertility and natural cycles. “It wasn’t so much that I was trying to avoid pregnancy or get pregnant – it’s that there was something legitimately wrong with my body,” Maggie told CNA. By the time she was in her late teens, Maggie had noticed that her cycles had never regulated, and had no idea what that meant except that it wasn't normal. While for the first years after a young woman begins to menstruate her cycles are of varying length and heaviness, they typically regulate within a few years. But several years after her own cycles began, Maggie was concerned that they never had settled into a normal pattern – in fact, she sometimes would have as few as one cycle a year. In addition, she also faced rounds of headaches. One day, Maggie approached her college-level biology teacher, who also happened to be a practicing Catholic, looking for an explanation for her concerns and asking what to do. The teacher told her to ask her pediatrician, but also put her in touch with her church’s fertility instructor to see what could be done. Maggie said her pediatrician immediately assumed that she was pregnant: an impossibility, because she was not sexually active. When the pregnancy tests came back negative, the doctor responded, “‘I don’t know what your problem is’ and brushed me off,” she recalled. Meanwhile, the local parish’s natural family planning (NFP) instructor saw the teen’s distress and put her in touch with a Catholic fertility physician who could teach Maggie how to observe and chart the signs of her fertility.Understanding Fertility “A sign of health in a woman is a normal, regular cycle,” Dr. Lorna Cvetkovich, a gynecologist and obstetrician at Tepeyac Family Center in Fairfax, Va., explains. “We know what a normal cycle looks like,” she continued, “so at any time the parameters fall outside of those, then that’s a clue that maybe they’re not ovulating, they may have a luteal phase defect, they may have fibroids. It can show you all sorts of things.” For women whose cycles fall within a normal range, normal bodily processes present themselves in a predictable pattern. In the first part of a woman’s cycle, called the follicular phase, hormonal signals from the pituitary gland trigger the follicles (egg-containing structures within the ovaries) to prepare an egg for ovulation and to secrete estrogen into the woman’s body. This rise in estrogen levels triggers changes in the kind of fluid the cervix secretes, as well as thickening the uterine lining, making them more able to support the conception process. After ovulation a woman's body secretes progesterone, which causes a sharp increase in a woman’s basal, or resting, body temperature, as well as a preparation of the uterine lining for possible implantation. If a pregnancy occurs, the basal body temperature and hormone levels may continue to rise, whereas if pregnancy does not happen, the resulting dip in hormones triggers a drop in temperature, menstruation, and the beginning of a new cycle. In a healthy woman who is not pregnant, this cycle will repeat every 21-35 days. These changes can be observed by any woman, and can be used by married couples as a valid method to achieve or delay pregnancy, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, which teaches that it is immoral to disrupt this natural cycle with the use of contraceptive pills, implants, barrier methods, or by having incomplete intercourse. Using these observations to help in the discernment of family size is known as natural family planning. However, the same observations and data – commonly collected into charts for easier analysis – can be used to help diagnose gynecological issues such as ovarian cysts and growths in the uterus, called fibroids, as well as hormone deficiencies and other abnormalities affecting bodily functions. The information can also be essential in pinpointing issues surrounding pregnancy, such as the exact date of conception, infertility, and miscarriages. This information is such a valuable insight into a patients health and symptoms – and an invaluable tool for doctors practicing reproductive medicine. “I just think it’s invaluable, and I don’t really know how people practice [gynecology] without having the charting,” said Cvetkovich. “There’s just so many uses, and it adds so much to your evaluation of the patient.”Cycles and Diagnosis Disorders in other bodily systems – such as the endocrine system – can manifest in a woman’s menstrual cycle and her chart. “Thyroid plays a role in almost every function of the body, so it may show up as a sign in the cycle,” explained Cvetkovich. For Christine, charting her bodily signs helped her to catch an issue with her thyroid that might otherwise have been missed. After charting for four years, she started noticing that some months there was no ovulation that could be detected by temperature or with chemical tests for the hormones that trigger ovulation. “I had what looked like a really long cycle, and then eventually, what to the uninformed observer would look to be a light period. But because I knew I hadn’t peaked, I was able to identify it as estrogen breakthrough bleeding and not a real cycle,” she explained. “It seemed like my body was trying to ovulate, and not really getting there.” She approached her doctor, explaining she was not ovulating and that she would like to find the cause for something that was out of the ordinary. The doctor then ordered comprehensive blood tests, and found that some of her thyroid-stimulating hormone levels were elevated beyond normal – in fact, her levels were twice as high s they had been a year ago. After receiving treatment, her cycles returned to their normal pattern. “I didn’t have a lot of signs or symptoms of hypothyroidism, aside from missing ovulation,” Christine noted, saying she wouldn't have picked up on the disorder had she not been charting. “ I wouldn’t have realized there was an issue,” Christine she added, reflecting on the fact that she probably would not have even received the treatment she needed. “Whenever I’m sharing my experience with NFP with somebody, I’m always quick to point out not only all of the standard benefits, but that it enabled me to know my body and know there’s a problem that so many people wouldn’t be aware of."How Fertility Awareness Helped to Find a Tumor After a local NFP instructor put Maggie in touch with physicians familiar with fertility awareness, she became more aware of what was going on in her own body. She learned to observe her basal body temperature and cervical fluid signs – and noticed that while sometimes she had a more typical menstrual cycle and her chart showed the usual peaks and dips of a healthy young woman, at other times her cycle was irregular and her temperature was more elevated. Even though she was not sexually active, “my body was acting like it was pregnant,” Maggie said. The doctors at the Catholic fertility clinic sent Maggie out for blood work, which showed a high level of prolactin – a hormone present during pregnancy and breastfeeding. She took this information back to her pediatrician, and then to an endocrinologist, who ordered an MRI scan of her brain. “There was a tumor pressing into my pituitary, pressing into my frontal cortex,” Maggie explained. “When I first heard the word ‘tumor’ I freaked out,” she related, but thankfully, “it wasn’t cancerous,” but a benign growth which explained both her irregular cycles and some of her headaches. Maggie received the treatment she needed to shrink the tumor, and told CNA that “things are pretty much normal now.” While the tumor is still there – “it’ll never really go away, unless I get surgery," she related; “what’s happened at this point is that it’s checked.” While since receiving treatment she has no need to monitor as rigorously all of her signs and symptoms, knowledge of her fertility and its signs has given Maggie tools she can use use if the tumor starts to grow again. “I have this, and I know these are indicators to know [if] something is wrong with my prolactin.”Fertility – 'A Public Health Issue' Cvetkovich suggested this level of awareness can be useful for any woman looking to take care of their health. “I think that anytime you put someone more in tune with your body, they’re just going to know that things are wrong earlier. I think that’s what it’s all about, knowing what’s normal for you, and being in tune with it.” She commented that many of her fellow physicians, as well as the general public, have grown accustomed to relying on hormonal contraceptives to address disorders, a practice she said “makes people very distant from their bodies and from their cycles.” “We’ve lost the idea that having a normal monthly cycle is health – that’s normal. Being fertile is normal. I think that’s where NFP brings us back to, really: to reality.” Maggie agrees, saying that some of her initial struggle in receiving treatment was a result of people “missing the point that fertility isn’t sort of an accessory to being a human woman – it’s an integral part of how our bodies work.” Awareness of how women’s bodies work, and how to tell when they’re not working correctly, is important for everyone. “It’s a public health issue.”*Name has been changed to protect privacy.This article was originally published July 31, 2015. Read more
Vatican City, Jul 31, 2015 / 02:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a tiny victory for Vatican-Chinese rapprochement, China's government now recognizes seminary studies and allows seminarians to continue their education in a state university should they leave. The Bachelor of Arts diploma young men receive in the seminary is now recognized as being a state title by the Chinese government. With the recognition it is now possible for seminarians who decide to quit their priestly formation to continue their education in a state university. The news came in a brief July 23 article by Fides, the press agency for the Vatican's Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The piece focused the close of the Academic Year for China's six authorized seminaries. In total, 79 seminarians earned their Bachelor of Arts degree, ending their first cycle of studies. They have now been sent to work in parishes and ecclesiastical communities. Work for the future parish priests will prove difficult in China, where there are mixed signals that on one side suggest an improvement in relations between China and the Holy See, while on the other hand show that the topic of religious freedom is still crucial. One sign of improved in relations is that Chinese president Xi Jinping, who has held office since March 2013, has shown interest in improving Holy See-Beijing relations. The president allowed Pope Francis' plane to fly over China while the Pope was en route to the Philippines in January. He also responded to the telegram Francis sent to him while flying through Chinese airspace. On Jan. 21, 2015, Hua Chunying, a spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said China's government is “willing to have constructive dialogue with the Vatican based on relevant principles.” On the other hand, there are also areas of division between Chinese Catholics and the Chinese central government. One of them is the current demolition of buildings and crosses in the province of Zhejiang. According to the government, the demolition plan – which began in early 2014 and has already affected more than 400 buildings and crosses – is part of the government’s effort to tear down illegal buildings. However, the decision has been interpreted as a persecution campaign against Chinese Christians. Last week Msgr. Vincent Zhu Weifang of Wenzhou, close to 90, took the streets together with 26 priests from his diocese to call for an end of the demolition of crosses. It was the fourth time the Catholic community in Wenzhou has publicly protested against the destruction. Another division came out with the protests of “Occupy Central,” a civil disobedience campaign that took place in Hong Kong last year, calling for democracy and protesting against electoral reforms proposed by the Chinese government, seen as highly restrictive. The movement was backed by many Catholics, including Cardinal Joseph Zen, archbishop emeritus of Hong Kong, who publicly protested alongside members of the movement. Xi Jinping likely referred to these facts when in late May he warned that “religions in China must be free from foreign influence” and incorporated into Socialist Chinese society. The president’s declarations, however, didn't deter the Holy See from moving forward toward a first, diplomatic rapprochement. Although the time hasn't come for a papal nuncio to China, there's a possibility of an agreement between the Vatican and China. If an agreement is reached, it could lead to a first, historic step: the appointment of a Vatican resident representative in China, though without the rank of an ‘ambassador.’ Diplomatic relations between the Holy See and China were cut in 1951, two years after the Chinese Communist party seized power. The Holy See has tried to keep some channel of dialogue open ever since, with increasing concern for Catholics in the country. The restoration of ties between the two has been slow, and characterized by moments of freeze and sudden thaws. Diplomatic talks for a final rapprochement are still at an early stage, but Xi Jinping’s policy on religious issues might help to overcome the difficulties. First among the difficulties is the situation of the Church in China, which is often described as divided between an ‘official’ Church – the Patriotic Association linked to the government – and an underground Church, persecuted and whose episcopal appointments frequently go unacknowledged by Chinese authorities. A source from the Congregation for the Evangelization of People told CNA July 27 that the situation is even more nuanced than this. “For years, priests of Chinese communities and faithful have been working to overcome the divide between ‘clandestine’ and official Church,” the source maintained. He added that “the more the ‘Cultural Revolution’ gets farther in time, the fewer the differences between Patriotic and underground Church are.” This happened thanks “to the work of Chinese bishops and Vatican officials who had patiently entertained relations in order to gain the hoped, and yet not achieved, twofold recognition of all the current bishops by China and the Holy See.” Nowadays, the source concluded, “there is the clear perception that the Chinese Church has never been schismatic, though it endured lacerations and compromises.” Read more
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