2014-10-14T17:07:00+00:00

Last updated on: October 14, 2014 at 5:07 pm   By

Vatican City, Oct 14, 2014 / 11:07 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The archbishop of El Salvador's capital city, who is in Rome for the Oct. 5-19 Synod on the Family, has proposed that St. Joseph be officially named patron saint of the family. “May God grant us this grace, as he is a model spouse, father, and teacher of young people,” Archbishop Jose Escobar Alas of San Salvador told Vatican Radio in a recent interview. “But we should also see him now as a defender of the rights of women and children. It was he who protected the Sacred Family and the Holy Infant in the flight to Egypt and at all times.” Archbishop Escobar continued: “allow me to say something else: St. Joseph continues to care for each one of our families.” The Salvadoran archbishop said he also made the proposal during his intervention at the Synod of Bishops taking place at the Vatican. St. Joseph has already formally been named patron of the universal Church, and is popularly regarded as a patron of both fathers and families. “Love for St. Joseph is present throughout the Church – he is the patron saint of the universal Church. He is also the patron saint of workers,” Archbishop Escobar noted. “But the bishops of my country and the people of God believe it would be appropriate for St. Joseph to be the patron saint of the family, and this is what the bishops participating in the synod have asked for in writing.” He also thanked Pope Francis for organizing the Synod of Bishops, and said it is an assurance of the Church’s concern for families in Latin America “who are suffering so much from poverty.” “Undoubtedly it is a work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who has enlightened Pope Francis to convene this synod. I wish to thank him as well for always being among us and for his kindness,” Archbishop Escobar added. “We are seeking solutions for such difficult problems the family is facing worldwide, but we are very happy and hopeful. And I am sure that during the next synod we will find valuable tools for family ministry.” Read more

2014-10-14T16:42:00+00:00

Last updated on: October 14, 2014 at 4:42 pm   By

Vatican City, Oct 14, 2014 / 10:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The need to develop a new way of communicating Church teaching in contemporary society emerged in synod discussions last week, with specific emphasis given to expressions regarding life and moral ... Read more

2014-10-14T15:55:00+00:00

Last updated on: October 14, 2014 at 3:55 pm   By

Newark, N.J., Oct 14, 2014 / 09:55 am (CNA).- Family and friends of the gray-habited friar Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel bid farewell to him Oct. 12 as he was laid to rest in the crypt of the Most Blessed Sacrament Friary after his funeral Mass at the Basi... Read more

2014-10-14T14:37:00+00:00

Last updated on: October 14, 2014 at 2:37 pm   By

Vatican City, Oct 14, 2014 / 08:37 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his daily mass on Tuesday Pope Francis warned about the hypocrisy of those who do good in order to be seen, saying that true faith is practiced through acts of charity that go beyond outward ri... Read more

2014-10-14T10:38:00+00:00

Last updated on: October 14, 2014 at 10:38 am   By

Washington D.C., Oct 14, 2014 / 04:38 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The first successful birth to a woman who had undergone a womb transplant highlights both opportunities resulting from new technology and the need for caution, said a Catholic bioethics expert. “The womb can be recognized as an organ that serves a particular function,” explained Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D., director of education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center. He told CNA on Oct. 10 that the transplantation of a healthy womb to a woman who lacks a womb because of birth defects or disease can be licit and “would be analogous to a situation where a kidney fails to function” and a donor provides a healthy organ to someone in need. Women can lose function of wombs after cancer, medical treatments, or due to certain birth defects. Recently, a Swedish woman gave birth to a baby boy after receiving a transplanted womb donated by a post-menopausal friend in her 60s. This is the first successful womb transplant to be coupled with a pregnancy, after two attempts by other medical teams that failed to lead to successful pregnancies. “Our success is based on more than 10 years of intensive animal research and surgical training by our team and opens up the possibility of treating many young females worldwide that suffer from uterine infertility,” said professor Mats Brannstrom, leader of the transplant team, to the BBC. Fr. Pacholczyk explained that while the number of couples who could benefit from this therapy “is relatively small,” the transplant itself opens the possibility for a new morally acceptable therapy. Transplanting the uterus alone could be morally acceptable, he said, as long as the transplant of ovaries and sex cells were not also done, respecting the uniqneness of each person's genetic information. The priest also noted that in the recent case, the woman – whose ovaries were still functioning – and her husband had used in-vitro fertilization to create 11 embryos, implanting one which resulted in a successful pregnancy and birth. The use of in-vitro fertilization violates Catholic teaching, because it too separates the creation of life from the marital act. For such a womb transplant to be completely licit, Fr. Pacholczyk said, IVF could not be used, and children would need to be conceived naturally “through the marital act.” Fr. Pacholczyk also pointed to ethical concerns surrounding potential donors for the therapy. In this case, he noted, “the uterus was obtained from a postmenopausal woman” whose “reproductive life was behind her.” “By donating the uterus she is not compromising her reproductive function nor is she compromising any significant hormonal function,” he explained, saying that uteri from cadavers and from post-menopausal women could be used for transplant. What would not be morally acceptable, he noted, is for a premenopausal woman to donate a uterus “with a contraceptive intention,” or in a way that would prevent her from being able to bear life while she is still biologically capable of doing so. Read more

2014-10-14T08:11:00+00:00

Last updated on: October 14, 2014 at 8:11 am   By

Vatican City, Oct 14, 2014 / 02:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Gang violence, family separation and a “chauvinistic culture” that strains marriages are among the challenges facing families in parts of Latin America, said a bishop from Nicaragua. ... Read more

2014-10-14T06:03:00+00:00

Last updated on: October 14, 2014 at 6:03 am   By

Atlanta, Ga., Oct 14, 2014 / 12:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- North American lay members of the Legion of Christ’s apostolic movement Regnum Christi met Oct. 10-12 for their national convention in Atlanta, where they prepared to revise their laws and o... Read more

2014-10-13T22:59:00+00:00

Last updated on: October 13, 2014 at 10:59 pm   By

Vatican City, Oct 13, 2014 / 04:59 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Catholic blogosphere exploded Monday after the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops released a document summarizing last week’s discussion. But while the relatio post disceptationem, which ... Read more

2017-10-09T16:33:00+00:00

Last updated on: October 9, 2017 at 4:33 pm   By

Providence, R.I., Oct 9, 2017 / 10:33 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The controversies surrounding Christopher Columbus are sometimes misplaced and should not overshadow Columbus’ Christian motives in his voyages, a scholar of religious studies and anthropology has said. “In recent times, Christopher Columbus has become the symbol for everything that went wrong in the New World, so much so that it has become difficult to celebrate the holiday commemorating his discovery of the New World,” Carol Delaney, a visiting scholar of religious studies at Brown University, told CNA. “I have been dismayed by the lack of knowledge about the man by those who are rushing in judgment against him and changing the day that commemorates his extraordinary achievement.” “While we may not agree with the scenario that motivated Columbus, it is important to understand him in the context of his time,” she added. Delaney, who holds a doctorate in cultural anthropology from the University of Chicago, is author of the 2011 book “Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem,” which examines Columbus’ religious motivations for his voyages. Her book warns against misjudging Columbus’ motivations and accomplishments “from a contemporary perspective rather than from the values and practices of his own time.” In her view, some criticism “holds him responsible for consequences he did not intend, expect, or endorse” and blames him for “all the calamities” that befell the “new world” he was once celebrated for discovering. Columbus has been a major figure for Catholics in America, especially Italian-Americans, who saw his pioneering voyage from Europe as a way of validating their presence in a sometimes hostile majority-Protestant country. The Knights of Columbus, the largest Catholic fraternal organization in the world, took his name and voyage as an inspiration. At one point in the nineteenth century there were efforts to push for the voyager’s canonization. In 1892, the quadricennial of Columbus’ first voyage, Leo XIII authored an encyclical that stressed Columbus’ desire to spread Catholic Christianity. The Pope stressed how Columbus’ Catholic faith motivated his voyage and supported him amid his setbacks. In recent decades, some critics have stressed the negative aspects of Columbus’ voyage and European colonization of the New World, noting that European colonists’ arrival brought disease, violence and displacement to natives. Columbus Day holidays and parades have drawn protests from some activists. Some U.S. localities have dropped observances of Columbus Day, while others have added observances intended to recognize those who lived in the Americas before Columbus sailed. Delaney, however, questioned interpretations that depict Columbus as a gold-hungry marauder who did not care for the natives. She said Columbus was motivated by the belief that all people must be evangelized to achieve salvation and by the belief that he could ally with the Great Khan of Cathay and secure enough gold to support an effort to retake Jerusalem. “There was no intention of taking land or enslaving the people of the Khan, ruler of one of the greatest empires at the time,” Delaney said. On his first return voyage to Spain, Columbus brought several natives who were not enslaved. Rather, they had been baptized and educated. “One became his ‘adopted son’ and translator on future voyages, two were adopted by the (Spanish) king and queen,” she said. After Columbus’ ship the Santa Maria ran aground on his first voyage, Columbus left 39 men on an island in the Caribbean with special instructions. “He told them they should not go marauding, should not kidnap and rape the women, and should always make exchanges for food and gold,” Delaney explained. “When he returned with more ships and people he found that all of the men whom he'd left behind had been killed. Unlike the priest who accompanied him, Columbus did not blame the natives, but his own men; clearly, they had disobeyed his orders.” Delaney acknowledged that Columbus on later voyages enslaved some natives who resisted Christianization. At the same time, he also punished his own men who perpetrated misdeeds against the natives. The scholar has also questioned uncritical treatments of the Spanish friar Bartolomeo de las Casas, who is sometimes compared favorably to Columbus. While las Casas is now remembered primarily as a defender of the rights of native Americans, she said this came later in life. The friar also owned slaves, endorsed slavery, and operated plantations. He also helped suppress a native rebellion Columbus never owned slaves and yet is “reviled and blamed for everything that went wrong in the Indies,” Delaney said in her book.  This article was originally published on CNA Oct. 13, 2014. Read more

2014-10-13T18:18:00+00:00

Last updated on: October 13, 2014 at 6:18 pm   By

Vatican City, Oct 13, 2014 / 12:18 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The approach to irregular unions must start from positive aspects, and stable couples should be accompanied in a development toward the sacrament of marriage, the Synod of Bishops said in a midterm report issued Monday. “We have gathered together the results of our reflections and our dialogues in the following three parts,” reads the Oct. 13 “relatio post disceptationem,” the interim document which the synod fathers will consider in small groups during the remainder of the meeting. The three parts are listening to the complex situation of the family today; “looking, our gaze fixed on Christ, to re-evaluate with renewed freshness and enthusiasm what the revelation transmitted in the faith of the Church tells us about the beauty and dignity of the family”;  and discussion “in the light of the Lord Jesus to discern the ways in which the Church and society can renew their commitment to the family.” The relatio is a summary of the state of discussion at the synod thus far, and at the same time is the basis for further discussion. Cardinal Luis Tagle of Manila told journalists in a press conference that “the relatio is a sort of a mirror at which we participants of the synod we should take a look to see what we have reached so far in this journey.” Though the relatio emphasizes the need for new language and a new pastoral approach, the document is based on the need of educated priests and lay people to spread the Gospel, and also sees in irregular couples an opportunity for evangelization.The need for education The preparatory document of the synod already addressed priestly education and the faithful's knowledge. Both of these issues are the background of the whole relatio. “The fundamental challenge facing families today is undoubtedly that of education, rendered more difficult and complex by today’s cultural reality,” the relatio read. And the Church, the relatio said, “can carry out a precious role in supporting families, starting from Christian initiation, through welcoming communities.” It is requested that the Church work at “supporting parents in their educative undertaking, accompanying children and young people in their growth through personalized paths capable of introducing them to the full meaning of life and encouraging choices and responsibilities, lived in the light of the Gospel.” Education is a crucial issue, even when the relatio comes to the possibility of reforming the procedure of marriage annulment. Such reform has been “requested by many,” but it and “the preparation of a sufficient number of operators, clerics and lay people, dedicating themselves to this, requires an increase in the responsibilities of the diocesan bishop, who in his diocese might charge a specially trained priest who would be able to offer the parties advice on the validity of their marriage.” “What rang out clearly in the Synod was the necessity for courageous pastoral choices,” the relatio said in regard to wounded families. But before that, the relatio underscored the importance of education to prevent such situations, in particular for couples in preparation for marriage, and the importance of rooting marriage preparation “in the path of Christian initiation, underlining the connection between marriage and the other sacraments.” In this accompaniment “the presence of experienced couples” is of great importance, and “couples need to be encouraged towards a fundamental welcome of the great gift of children,” while “the importance of family spirituality and prayer needs to be underlined.” The document also addressed the transmission of life, and concludes that “help is required to live affectivity, in the marriage as well, as a path of maturation, in the overmore profound welcoming of the other and in an ever fuller giving.”Pastoral care and irregular couples Much emphasis has been given to the third part, dedicated to discussion. Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest, who is general rapporteur of the synod, explained that “it was difficult to summarize all the interventions” and that “we need to make a choice of words which is not obviously perfect, since it has to respect everybody’s word.” On the other hand, Cardinal Erdo pointed out that “a special emphasis is needed on the values of the marriage lived according the God’s plan. This was obviously acknowledged in this text, but it probably has an even more major impact in the world. I am convinced this data will emerge in the coming discussion.” The beginning of the document is dedicated to the Gospel of family, but it also stresses that “the Gospel of the family, while it shines in the witness of many families who live coherently their fidelity to the sacrament, with their mature fruits of authentic daily sanctity, must also nurture those seed that are yet to mature, and must care for those trees that have dried up and wish not to be neglected.” The document then read that “a new dimensions of today’s family pastoral consists of accepting the reality of civil marriage and also cohabitation.” Far from being an endorsement of such unions, the document is committed to positively assessing the issue, in order to accompany these couples “in development toward the sacrament of marriage.” The document also stressed that cohabitation and common law marriages are always more spread because of material poverty. “Furthermore in such unions it is possible to grasp authentic family values or at least the wish for them. Pastoral accompaniment should start from these positive aspects,” the relatio read. Among the pastoral challenges, there is that of care for wounded families. The synod fathers urged a new pastoral path that “begins with the effective reality of familial fragilities, recognizing that they, more often than not, are more ‘endured’ than freely chosen.” The relatio underscored that damaged families should be “first of all be listened to with respect and love,” and this discernment is “indispensable for the separated and the divorced,” since “what needs to be respected above all is the suffering of those who have endured separation and divorce unjustly.” The document said that “divorced people who have not remarried should be invited to find the Eucharist the nourishment they need to sustain them in their state,” while the divorced who have remarried “demand a careful discernment and an accompaniment full of respect.” Regarding access to Confession and Communion for such persons, the relatio acknowledged different proposals: “some argued in favor of the present regulations because of their theological foundation, others were in favor of a greater opening on very precise conditions.”Homosexuality The document read that “homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community,” and that “the question of homosexuality leads to a serious reflection on how to elaborate realistic paths of affective growth and human evangelical maturity integrating the sexual dimension.” According to the synod fathers, “this is an important educative challenge.” “The Church furthermore affirms that unions between people of the same sex cannot be considered on the same footing as matrimony between man and woman.” The synod fathers also deemed it unacceptable that “pressure be brought to bear on pastors or that international bodies make financial aid dependent on the introduction of regulations inspired by gender ideology.” Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, commented that in the relatio's comments on homosexual persons, “there is nothing new, since the Church never rejected homosexuals; it always cared of them from a pastoral point of view. And on the other hand, we cannot say that a gay couple is really a couple or may form a family.” Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, secretary of the synod, echoed this, saying, “the Church does not hold that the word ‘family’ may be applied to a homosexual union.” Archbishop Forte then added that “it is evident that human persons have rights, and these rights must be safeguarded.”No doctrinal news, but a quest for new pastoral language According to Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati Andrello of Santiago de Chile, the relatio “is not a definitive document, but it also has the perspective of what the outcome of this synod may be.” The overall document do not present doctrinal 'news', but it is aimed to show a change of pace in the pastoral approach and language. Archbishop Forte said that one example of this effort is given by the absence of any reference to natural law. “Natural law is a terminology that the major part of Catholics in average do not understand, as emerged by the questionnaires we delivered prior to the synod. We did not get rid of the notion, we just tried to express it in a different terminology, emphasizing that there is a shared human experience,” Archbishop Forte said. The relatio read that “a missionary conversion is required,” such that evangelization apply to people's real problems, since “it must not be forgotten that the crisis of faith has led to a crisis in matrimony and the family and, and, as a result, the transmission of faith from parents to children has been interrupted.”   Read more

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