Catholic News
Washington D.C., Jul 29, 2015 / 04:10 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Hundreds of women – along with scores of men – gathered in front of the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to protest what they see as betrayal of the nation’s women at the hands of Plan... Read more
Washington D.C., Jul 29, 2015 / 04:10 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Hundreds of women – along with scores of men – gathered in front of the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to protest what they see as betrayal of the nation’s women at the hands of Plan... Read more
Vatican City, Jul 29, 2015 / 06:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As the five-year term for Pope Francis' personal doctor comes to an end, the Pope is expected to choose a new one soon who will accompany him during his upcoming visit to Cuba and the United States. Patrizio Polisca, doctor to Benedict XVI and president of the medical commission for the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints, was until recently the Pope’s personal doctor and head of the Vatican City State's healthcare services. Francis decided at the end of May not to renew Polisca's term as papal doctor and head of the Vatican’s healthcare services, leaving his position open as of Aug. 1. The Pope is expected to select a new doctor in September, before his visit to Cuba and the United States at the end of that month. Appointed as head of the Vatican's health care services in 2010, Polisca, a cardiologist, has been Benedict XVI's personal doctor since 2009. He will continue caring for the retired Pope, and will also maintain his post in the Congregation for the Cause of Saints. In comments to journalists July 27, Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi laid to rest rumors circulating in Italian media that Francis had ousted the doctor from his position, and from the Vatican. “I want to clarify that Patrizio Polisca ended in July the five year term mandate as director of Health Care Services. A replacement must be considered customary according to the Regulation for the Lay Managers of the Holy See and of the Vatican City State,” the spokesman said. Fr. Lombardi also affirmed that Polisca will continue live within the Vatican City State. He remarked that the doctor “is very highly considered in the Vatican,” and the fact that he is still Benedict XVI’s personal doctor is of great importance. It's been customary since St. John Paul II's pontificate that the position as director of the Vatican City State’s healthcare facilities was tied to the post of the Pope’s personal doctor. However, it is likely Pope Francis will make a different decision, and that his new personal doctor will not be in charge of the Vatican healthcare system. Patrizio Polisca, born in 1953, has worked for the Vatican since the 1980s, starting as a summer medical guard in the Papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo. In 1994 he became one of the doctors of the Vatican medical corp, and in 1997 was asked by Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, St. John Paul II's personal doctor, to be a medical support during the Pope’s historic trip to Cuba in 1998. Since the 1998 trip to Cuba, Polisca served as a supporting medical doctor on every long trip St. John Paul II took, since the Pope's health was worsening each year. After Benedict XVI's election he continued to serve as a Vatican medical official. In 2009, Benedict XVI appointed him his personal doctor, and in 2010 Polisca had become the head of the Vatican health care. Polisca is also a member of the Vatican Security Committee. As president of the Congregation for the Cause of Saints medical commission, the doctor assists in examining cases of healings, and decides whether the healing is the result of a miracle or not. Read more
Rome, Italy, Jul 29, 2015 / 03:01 am (CNA).- Yes to contraception, homosexual acts, and Communion for the divorced and remarried – all considering the circumstances. No to understanding any acts as intrinsically evil. These are the positions advocated by speakers at the May 25 “shadow council” which gathered prelates and theologians, led by the German bishops, at a Jesuit university in Rome. That day 50 specially chosen representatives of the the German, Swiss, and French bishops conferences gathered at the Pontifical Gregorian University for a closed-door meeting, with the aim of reflecting on the biblical and theological bases of the family, and of discussing their goals for the Synod on the Family which will be held at the Vatican this October. Only a few journalists were invited to participate in the meeting, and under the condition that they would not attribute by name what they heard there. One participant told CNA they were barred from granting interviews, as “confidentiality has been requested about the discussions at stake.” But on July 17, nearly two months after the fact, the German bishops conference released the text of the meeting's interventions, in French, German, and Italian. Missing, however, was the final speech from Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising. The document's introduction explained that the convention was divided into three parts: a reflection on Christ's words regarding marriage and divorce; on sexuality as an expression of love and “a theology of love”; and on the gift of life and “a narrative theology” – theology based on personal experience. This “narrative theology,” based on individual experiences – and the consequences of adopting it – is the real news of the ‘Shadow Synod’ convention. Fr. Alain Thomasset, SJ, introduced it in his speech at the secretive meeting. Fr. Thomasset, a Belgian, is professor of moral theology at Centre Sèvres, a Jesuit university in Paris. His paper was titled “Taking into consideration the history and biographical developments of the moral life and pastoral care of the family,” and in it he rejected the notion that any act can be intrinsically evil. He maintained that “the interpretation of the doctrine of acts known as 'intrinsically evil' is seemingly one of the principal fonts of the difficulty currently encountered in the pastoral care of families, as it determines to a large extent the condemnation of artificial contraception, of sexual acts by the divorced and remarried and by homosexual couples, even when they are stable.” This understanding of some acts as intrinsically evil, he said, “seems incomprehensible to many and seems pastorally counterproductive.” He added that while it “justly insists on points of reference as the targets of the moral life, it neglects precisely the biographical dimension of existence and the specific conditions of each personal journey.” He claimed a “narrative and biographical perspective obliges one to believe that moral evaluation does not cover isolated acts, but rather human acts included in a story,” and that thus “one should not be too quick to qualify a sexual or contraceptive act as intrinsically evil!” Fr. Thomasset relied on a particular understanding of the primacy of conscience, saying that “the objective ethical references provided by the Church are just one item (essential, certainly, but not the only item) of moral discernment that must be operated within the personal conscience.” “How are we to take into account the difference between an act of adultery and sexual relations within a stable couple of remarried persons?” he asked. He commented that “it would be of great benefit to the elaboration of moral norms and of pastoral measures if there was a increased listening to the experience and the sensus fidei of couples who are seeking to best live out their call to holiness,” adding that “divine communication and its reception on the part of the individual believer are co-originating.” Fr. Thomasset then proposed an interpretation of human moral acts “remaining within the context of Catholic tradition, which would bear various consequences.” The first of these consequences, he said, is that “in certain cases, because of particular circumstances, the sexual acts of remarried couples would not longer be considered as morally guilty. This would open their access to the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist.” In support of this he cited a 1972 essay by then-Fr. Joseph Ratzinger, which has long since been retracted and repudiated by its author. The other consequences: the use of contraceptives would not be morally wrong, as long as the couple were married and “remain open” to welcoming life; and the “subjective moral responsibility” of sexual acts between homosexuals in a stable and faithful relationship would be “diminished or eliminated.” “It's about helping people live the humanly possible in a path of growth toward the desirable,” Fr. Thomasset wrote. The first part of the “shadow council” included interventions by the theologians Anne-Marie Pellettier and Thomas Soeding, both of whom advocated “development” of the Church's understanding of marriage as indissoluble. Pellettier stressed that Christ's words on divorce in Matthew 19 (“from the beginning it was not so”) must be contextualized in the Jewish world to which he was speaking, and must be read through the lens of anthropology rather than as a juridical statement. “Catholic tradition on indissolubility is actually based on a disciplinary interpretation of this text, despite its kerygmatic content,” she charged – that is, “the conjugal bond, in the terms in which Jesus expresses it, is strictly linked to the vocation of those who, with baptism, will be immersed in Christ’s death and resurrection.” The French theologian stressed that today’s challenges “are a prolongation of the experience of the Catholic Church in the course of a history in which it has not ceased to firmly watch over indissolubility, while customs widely dismissed the principle accepted by Christian societies.” She suggested that the current anthropological situation of secularization is “totally new” and “probably requires” a theological “development.” Pellettier referred to the fruit of the 1980 Synod on the Family, St. John Paul II's Familiaris consortio, which noted that “spouses are therefore the permanent reminder to the Church of what happened on the Cross.” She added, however, that “the Paschal Mystery should not appear to have failed when Christian couples live a laceration,” and that a new challenge is presented by those baptized who “undertake – for reasons inseparable from their stories, and always unique – a second union.” “The truth is that conjugal life is full of stumbling blocks, far more than those which are admitted by the theology of marriage,” she maintained. Soeding then stressed that while marriage is indissoluble, the Synod on the Family being held in October should “develop, in fidelity to the will of Jesus, the doctrine, morality, and law of marriage. The key lives in a theology of marriage and of the family which renews the link between faith and love, grace and freedom, ethics and law. The more clear and attractive the Christian model of marriage becomes, the sooner will it be possible to find ways for those persons who cannot celebrate such a marriage to be able to live within the Church as a happy couple.” Eberhard Schokenhoff, professor of moral theology at the University of Freiburg, spoke about the “theology of love”, and proposed a clearly sociological view, with quotes from the psychoanalyst Erich Fromm and the Marxist sociologist Theodor Adorno. In his speech, he focused on the difficulty of living a Christian life in today’s society, as there is no more space for transcendence. “In the first place, it should be admitted that love can indeed end,” he advocated. “If two persons make the definitive decision of a common project of life, this does not mean they cannot review their choice.” The irrevocability of the choice to marry is, according Schockenhoff, “founded on what love in fact wants,” and “the indissolubility of marriage is not a prescriptive aspect which is brought from outside; it is rather a request that spouses make to themselves, when they trust in their love.” François-Javier Amherdt, a professor from Fribourg, stressed that a sexual act that happens outside the context of marriage “remains incomplete” and that “fecundity is needed to fully exercise sexuality.” So, what to do with “sexual relations that fall outside the marriage covenant?” Amherdt answered that one must discern “according to the situation … we must sound a word of call rather than of condemnation, according to a pastoral care of accompaniment.” He urged that not all situations of cohabitation are the same, and that “on a moral and pastoral view” these relations cannot be “completely discredited,” as “their deficiencies, moreover, in some cases are due to pressures of context and to the lack of references to the education of sentiments.” The “ Theology of Biography” was further developed by the theologian Eva-Maria Faber. She wrote that the Church has traditionally focused on marriage as a life of communion, “which sometimes leads to the spouses being considered only as a couple. The individual person with his respective individual biography is likely to remain excluded.” Faber instead focused on individuals and their personal ambitions beyond the marriage, and emphasized that “it is deplorable that even the theology of marriage of the Church often does not permit sufficient attention given to the individuality of spouses in marriage.” She suggested therefore a “biographical view of marriage, adapted to real situations and leading toward a corresponding spirituality of the marital state, which would also inform the language of the Church.” Such a biographical view would mean that “the doctrinal and normative framework cannot enter into the merits of all individual situations; rather it must remain open to the dignity and uniqueness of individual persons and situation,” Faber claimed. She also asked that there be developed “a practice of acknowledging also couples” who “do not meet the norm” of marriage's indissolubility. In the discussion which followed the presentations, it was emphasized that “it is incorrect” to call remarriage a “permanent sin” and that reconciliation is “irrenounceably a path for all men and for all situations of life.” “The fact that for the divorced and remarried … who are also sexually active, there is no possibility of reconciliation, is a dead end,” the group concluded. “This situation must be overcome, in order not to further endanger the credibility of the Church when it speaks of the importance of reconciliation.” The meeting's participants also emphasized that the Eucharist's role as “therapy and consolation” should not be overshadowed and hampered by its “symbolism of the unity of the Church.” In the end, the proposal of the German bishops, and those who stand with them, is one of a human-centered theology: changing with the spirit of the times, and affirming all situations and choices which become widespread. Read more
Washington D.C., Jul 29, 2015 / 12:31 am (CNA).- A leader in LGBT grant-making has told business leaders that he wants to shut down the political fight for religious freedom exemptions in the U.S. within three years. And these words are not empty rh... Read more
Lahore, Pakistan, Jul 28, 2015 / 04:44 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Dominican priest in Pakistan has praised the nation’s Supreme Court for suspending the death sentence of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman charged with blasphemy, and has emphasized the importance of dialogue between Muslims and Christians. “The Supreme Court of Pakistan has made a great move as her death sentence was put aside,” Father James Channan said in a July 23 interview with the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. “I firmly believe that justice will be done, that she will be proven innocent and that she will be released.” “The blasphemy law was used (in Bibi’s case) to settle a personal score – the accusation was an act of revenge,” the priest continued. Asia Bibi had been on death row for nearly five years due to an accusation that she insulted Islam's prophet Muhammad during an argument. Bibi denies the accusation, and has stated her accusers were acting out of a personal vendetta. Last week the Supreme Court of Pakistan suspended Bibi’s execution, and will soon hear her appeal. However, many Pakistanis have spoken out against the court’s decision and have said they would carry out the execution even if she is deemed innocent. Fr. Channan commened that “fanatics are determined to kill once someone is accused, regardless of the legal outcome of a particular case … our people need to be educated and come to respect decisions of the courts of law.” Bibi’s trial is one of many over charges of blasphemy in Pakistan. The nation’s blasphemy laws have often been misused for personal reasons or gain, and the accusations are often false, Fr. Channan warned. He estimated some 130 Christians are currently being tried under Pakistan’s blasphemy law, and that 950 Muslims are being held under the law. “The misuse of the law should be stopped, such as its use to settle personal scores or to further business purposes,” he said. Fr. Channan called for Pakistan’s government to revise its constitution, removing provisions that relegate Christians and other religious minorities to the status of second-class citizens. He also called for provisions to be put into place to punish those who falsely accuse others of blasphemy – an idea which he said is “also being supported by a growing number of Muslims, including some top leaders.” The priest said interreligious dialogue will also help prevent malicious accusations of blasphemy. Fr. Channan directs the Dominican-run Peace Center in Lahore, which works to build ties with Pakistan’s Muslim majority. Fr. Channan praised several key Muslim religious leaders who are taking part in Christian-Muslim dialogue including Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, chairman of the Pakistan Ulama Council, and Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad, grand imam of Lahore's Badshahi Mosque. “Without dialogue there is no future of the Church in Pakistan,” Fr. Channan cautioned. “Today…Christians live in a state of fear because of all the recent violence. We need to somehow find a way to work with the Muslim majority…building bridges between the communities is of vital importance, however long it takes.” “Pakistan’s Catholic Church is on the forefront of this process,” he said. Pakistan's state religion is Islam, and around 97 percent of the population is Muslim. The nation has adopted blasphemy laws which impose strict punishment on those who desecrate the Quran or who defame or insult Muhammad. The blasphemy laws are said to be often used to settle scores or to persecute religious minorities; while non-Muslims constitute only three percent of the Pakistani population, 14 percent of blasphemy cases have been levied against them. Many of those accused of blasphemy are murdered, and advocates of changing the law are also targeted by violence. In 2011 the Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, a Muslim critic of the blasphemy laws, was assassinated. Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic and the only Christian in Pakistan’s cabinet, was also assassinated the same year by militant supporters of the blasphemy laws. Read more
La Paz, Bolivia, Jul 28, 2015 / 04:39 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ July 10 visit to a prison in Bolivia was just one of several dozen events over the course of the recent papal trip to Latin America. But for many of the inmates and worke... Read more
Nairobi, Kenya, Jul 28, 2015 / 02:25 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- U.S. president Barack Obama has come under fire from African politicians and Church leaders after advocating for gay rights in Kenya this weekend – a practice Pope Francis has referred to as “ideological colonization.” “Even if people don’t like us for it, our Church has always said homosexuality is unnatural and marriage is between a man and a woman,” Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja told the News Agency of Nigeria July 26. He stressed that “there is no question of the Catholic Church changing its positions on this matter.” Archbishop Charles Palmer-Buckle of Accra, a Ghanaian, also weighed in on the U.S. president’s comments, emphasizing that for the Church, homosexual activity is both contrary to the law of God and “anti-human,” Breitbart News reports. He said that although the Church respects homosexual individuals since they are created in the image and likeness of God, it cannot support homosexual acts and is committed to upholding “the fundamental truth about marriage and family life.” Cardinal Onaiyekan and Archbishop Palmer Buckle’s comments fell the day after Obama advocated for gay rights during his two-day visit to Kenya, after which he travelled to Ethiopia. In his July 25 speech at a joint news conference with his Kenyan counterpart, President Uhuru Kenyatta, Obama spoke out about the importance of gay rights, despite requests from Kenya’s leaders to not address the issue. Homosexual acts are illegal in Kenya, as well as several other African countries. “With respect to the rights of gays and lesbians, I have been consistent all across Africa on this,” Obama said. “I believe in the principle of treating people equally under the law and that they are deserving of equal protection under the law and that the State should not discriminate against the people based on their sexual orientation.” Prior to Obama’s visit, 700 evangelical pastors wrote an open letter asking the president not to use the trip as an occasion to push the homosexual agenda. Mark Kariuki, who leads of an alliance of 38,000 churches and 10 million Kenyan Christians, was the primary author of the letter. “We do not want (Obama) to come and talk on homosexuality in Kenya or push us to accepting that which is against our faith and culture,” Kariuki wrote. In response to Obama’s comments, Kenyatta noted that while the U.S. and Kenya hold many values and goals in common, such as democracy and entrepreneurship, gay rights is not one of them. “It is very difficult for us to be able to impose on people that which they themselves do not accept. This is why I repeatedly say for Kenyans today, the issue of gay rights is generally a non-issue. We want to focus on other areas.” Both Kenya's deputy president, William Ruto, and the speaker of its National Assembly, Justin Muturi, spoke publicly against same-sex marriage in the day's leading up to Obama's visit. Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of Oyo, who is Nigerian, responded to Obama's advocacy saying, “Most Africans care about religious values, about the family, about the complementary nature of man and woman and the culture that makes us Africans. Why can we not choose what 'benevolence' to accept from the West? Why can we not just be helped to fight corruption, terrorism, unemployment disease and illiteracy?” “Nobody should be killed for private wayward or immoral behaviors that do not compromise other people's lives,” the bishop affirmed, “but that does not mean all kinds of exotic sexual adventure must be foisted on other nationalities in the name of rights.” “America claims to be a great democracy and the proof of that fact will be found in her capacity for sincere dialogue and readiness to respect the legitimate values and world view of other peoples,” Bishop Badejo concluded. The negative response to Obama's advocacy come amid other responses to what Pope Francis has called the “ideological colonization” of poorer countries by wealthy Western nations. Pope Francis has frequently spoken out against aid and humanitarian organizations which make support of gay rights, abortion, and birth control a condition for receiving assistance. Speaking in Manila Jan. 16, the Pope decried the “new ideological colonization that tries to destroy the family,” warning against efforts “to redefine the very institution of marriage.” A few days later, Pope Francis again cautioned against this new form of colonialism: “A people enters with an idea that has nothing nothing to do with the nation … and they colonize the people with an idea that changes, or wants to change, a mentality or a structure," he said Jan. 19 during a press conference on his return flight to Rome from the Philippines. The Pope's statements have been echoed by bishops across the developing world. At the beginning of July, the Nigerian bishops conference issued a statement reacting to the legalization of same-sex marriage in Ireland and the U.S. In their statement, the bishops re-emphasized that “marriage is the sacred union of one man and one woman for the begetting and care of children.” The Nigerian bishops voiced concern that countries such as Canada, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Ireland, and the U.S., which have approved such unions and which hold profound influence over Africa, will begin to influence people’s opinion on the matter. These countries, they noted, “also give generous humanitarian aid to various establishments and projects in our country and continent.” Cardinal Luis Tagle of Manila has noted that foreign aid given to the Philippines is oftentimes is linked to some measures that the receiving country is somehow forced to accept … some of the conditions for the aid seem to be an acceptance or a welcoming of some views regarding marriage, or sexuality, or what, which could be alien to the vision of the receiving country or culture.” And Bishop Badejo, the Nigerian who chairs communications for the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), said in a February interview with Aleteia that the U.S. has made its help in fighting the radical Islamist group Boko Haram contingent on the Nigeria's support of homosexual acts. “The United States actually said it would help Nigeria with Boko Haram only if we modify our laws concerning homosexuality, family planning and birth control,” he said. “It’s very clear that a cultural imperialism exists. In fact, I think that Africa is suffering greatly from a cultural imperialism that threatens to erode our cultural values.” Bishop Badejo called the U.S. decision “criminal,” saying that if the West boasts of the value they place on human freedom, they shouldn’t try to impose values on Africa with which its people do not agree. “It is part of human freedom … if the West cherishes freedom for gays and homosexual unions and abortion and contraception, suppose Africans are not wired that way,” he said. “There is a diminishing sense of the respect for the sanctity of life. And all of this is to be imposed on Africa, at whatever cost: we think that it is immoral and that it is unjust.” Read more
Washington D.C., Jul 28, 2015 / 12:46 pm (CNA).- One day, when Dawn Eden was 31 years-old, she ventured into the section of a bookstore that she had never visited before. This journey into the store was somewhat out of character for Eden, who preferred listening to rock music instead of delving into books. Even more rare was the part of the bookstore she found herself in, because she had never been interested in what it had to offer – until her recent conversion to Christianity. It was a shelf of how-to books on living with sexual purity. Eden, who was an agnostic Jew for most of her life, used to spend her days as a rock journalist interviewing Harry Nilsson and hanging out with Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys, living her nights bouncing from one New York nightclub to the next. It was surprising then that she, with her well-seasoned experiences, would find herself flipping through page after page of books searching for the meaning of chastity. To her disappointment, the stores she ventured into only offered books for teens, which aimed at frightening them into not having sex rather than offer a truthful explanation on why living a chaste lifestyle was important for every human being. When her quest proved fruitless, Eden decided to write a book of her own for adults who were looking for more than just the thrill of the chase. She hoped that there would be others out there like her – and hoped that she could give them the book that she herself had searched for. After her conversion to Christianity in 1999, Eden published what she calls “a chastity book for grown-ups” in 2006, The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding fulfillment while leaving your clothes on. Not long after its publication, Eden converted to Catholicism. Armed with this new world view, she re-wrote the original edition of her book through the new lenses of her Catholic faith, which was published in 2015. Fellow author Colleen Carroll Campbell hailed the new Catholic edition for its humor and brutal honesty, as well as drawing on “the depth and insights of the saints, Church Fathers, and Catholic teaching in a way that the original did not.” Besides including various elements of her new-found Catholic faith, Eden also inserted a few additions to the Catholic version: it now catered to a male audience, who had expressed a need for a book like hers, and also addressed those individuals who were discerning a celibate life. “In this new edition, I take a different approach – I give people practical advice not on dating, but on living, because the real question of our lives is not 'How am I going to find a spouse'? but the real question is 'How am I going to be happy whether I have a spouse or not'?” she told CNA. “If we are just thinking that we have to find the right person to be happy, then we are really missing the point of life in Christ, and risking the possibility that we will never be happy – because if you put your happiness in a human being, then sooner or later you are going to be disappointed,” she said. In writing her book, Eden wanted to address the person she had been before her conversion – the person who was searching for ways to fill her hurting, lonely heart. She wanted to offer hope and healing to the other men and women who had also been hurt by past experiences. Eden wasn't the only one out there who felt the harrowing, sweeping feeling of loneliness – she found that it was becoming an increasingly popular sentiment. However, that lonely feeling wasn’t always a negative thing, she recalled. “I have come to realize that hunger and loneliness are not bad things: they are signs that I am made for something better and higher than this world, signs that I am meant to make room for God.” “We are all made with a God-shaped vacuum in our heart that can only be filled by the love of God in and through Christ,” Eden reflected. The ex-rock journalist wanted to impress upon her readers that their lives have meaning – here and now – and that they don't have to wait until marriage or a romantic relationship to feel fulfilled. But how could this be achieved in an age of growing existential loneliness? “As I began to let Jesus enter more deeply into my heart and entire life, then I learned how to let other people enter into me in a deeper way,” she asserted, acknowledging that her pledge to purity helped her become a better friend, daughter, and woman. Chastity proved to surprise Eden. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t the denying admonishment that she had anticipated. In fact, Eden points out in her book that chastity does not deny love, but rather, shows men and women how to love more fully. “Our chastity is how we become personally integrated, body and soul, so that we can really love fully in every relationship, in the manner that is appropriate to that type of relationship,” she explained. Although written as the “Catholic edition,” Eden believes that everyone, even non-Catholics, can glean something from the Catholic Church's stance on sexuality, purity, and chastity. “Everyone needs the good news and the Church's sexual teachings are part of the good news,” she stated, saying that too often Catholics take for granted the treasury of Church teachings on the matter, seeing them as bitter pills rather than beautiful truths. “To live a life of chastity is to live in the truth – the truth of the dignity that you and those you encounter have from being made in the image of God,” she explained. Eden ends her chastity book for grown-ups with a beautiful description of how chastity changed her life and worldview. Not only did it enhance the quality of her relationships, but it has also drawn out the beauty of other people. “The world is no longer my meat market – it stopped being that for me years ago – and it is no longer my waiting room,” Eden wrote. “It is my cathedral, and every human being is a tabernacle of Christ.” Read more
Washington D.C., Jul 28, 2015 / 04:02 am (CNA).- Last month, it looked like the thousands of women who have suffered detrimental side effects from the birth control device “Essure” were finally being heard. After receiving a thousands of complaints about the device, the FDA announced June 24 that it would add additional risks and complications to Essure's label. The FDA also scheduled a meeting on Sept. 24 with the women of “Essure problems,” a facebook group of nearly 20,000 women who have experienced the negative side effects of the device and want it off the market. It looked like a win. That was until the “Essure problems” women realized who else would be in town Sept. 24. On that same day, Pope Francis will give the first-ever papal address to the United States Congress – an event likely to draw all media attention away from the FDA-Essure meeting. “I was born and raised Catholic, and to use the Pope against us? That's not ok,” Angela Desa-Lynch, an administrator for the Facebook group “Essure Problems,” told CNA July 24. A mom of three who had her Essure coils removed after severe complications, Desa-Lynch said the conflict with the Pope’s visit seemed intentional, since visits with heads of state are usually planned months, if not years, in advance. When asked whether the meeting was deliberately scheduled to be overshadowed by the Pope, the FDA denied any intentional conflicts. “The meeting was not timed in any way with the Pope’s address to Congress,” Deborah Kotz, a press officer for the FDA, told CNA in an e-mail interview. “As an FYI, FDA announced the meeting date for Essure on June 24, and the Vatican announced the Pope’s itinerary for his U.S. visit on Tuesday, June 30.” However, according to CNA reports, the Pope’s Sept. 24 address to Congress was announced to the public as early as Feb. 5 of this year. Bayer, the manufacturer and distributor of Essure, deferred comment on the meeting to the FDA. Desa-Lynch said in earlier meetings with some members of the group, the FDA has made it clear that they have no intentions of considering pulling the device from the market, despite the five reported deaths it has directly caused. Other side effects of the device include: perforated organs, coil migration, fetal disfigurement and death, nickel poisoning, chronic pain, and depression. But the women of “Essure Problems” are not going to let the papal address overshadow their demands to pull Essure off the market. “We’re not willing to leave without an absolute,” Desa-Lynch said. And that’s why a group of women and doctors who support the recall of Essure are planning a hunger strike outside of the FDA after their meeting in September. “Hunger strikes have a 100 percent success rate,” Desa-Lynch said. “It’s our only chance.” It’s a drastic, last-ditch effort that worked for women’s suffrage in the early 20th century, and for Guantanamo detainees in the 2000s who demanded better conditions. “I've never been more ready and willing to go to jail or die for that matter. It's sad that women's health and safety is still not equal in 2015,” Desa-Lynch said. “Besides,” she added, “a hunger strike will show the FDA on the outside what their lack of action is already doing to our health on the inside.” It is impossible to know the exact percentage of women who’ve been implanted with Essure and experienced complications. Both Bayer and the FDA know that 750,000 devices have been sold worldwide. However, sometimes women will be implanted with multiple Essure devices, despite labels that specifically state that only one coil per tube should be used. One woman may also submit multiple complaints, making the exact number of women with complications difficult to pinpoint. “From Nov. 4, 2002, Essure's approval date, through May 31, 2015, the FDA received 5,093 Medical Device Reports related to Essure. Starting in mid-2013, there has been an increase in the number of reports received related to Essure,” Kotz said. “The majority of reports received since that time have come from voluntary reporters, mostly from women who have had received Essure implants. Because some adverse events may go unreported to FDA, and because the precise number of implants is not known, FDA cannot provide a percentage to calculate the incidence of these events.” Among those who will be present to show their support for the Essure hunger strike (though they will not be participating) include Erin Brokovich, the legal clerk and single mother made famous from a 2000 film about her life. Brockovich has a website dedicated to filing complaints against Essure and has joined the women in the legal fight against the device. There are several other people and interest groups hurt by the FDA who are joining the "Essure problems" women as well. "(This) isn't just about Essure anymore. This is about anyone that's fallen a victim or been hurt by a faulty FDA process, bad laws and lack of oversight," Desa-Lynch said. "The FDA has to much blood on its hands to continued to be ignored." “I will stay there, I don’t care if I’m the last one there,” she added. “I’m not leaving until they listen to us.” Read more
Washington D.C., Jul 28, 2015 / 12:04 am (CNA).- A bill in Congress that brands itself as fighting discrimination might end up doing the exact opposite, said legal experts last week. “The whole thing is an overreach,” said Ryan Anderson,... Read more
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