Medical association drops opposition to euthanasia

Last updated on: October 22, 2018 at 12:27 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Awful: One of America’s largest medical associations has dropped its long standing opposition to euthanasia, voting at a national meeting to instead adopt a position of “engaged neutrality”. The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) represents doctors who specialize in family medicine, and has over 131,000 members. At the Academy’s 2018 Congress of Delegates in New Orleans earlier this month, over two-thirds of delegates voted to change the position, with several representatives giving impassioned speeches about how the availability of euthanasia could... Read more

Eastern prelate on married priests: ‘To remove celibacy will not resolve the problem’

Last updated on: October 22, 2018 at 10:39 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

From Crux: So far there really haven’t been any great political battles during this month’s Synod of Bishops on young people, but when another group of 300 bishops or so gathers in Rome next year for a summit on the Amazonian region, some forecasts call for tension around a long-standing flashpoint in Catholic debate: Married priests. Priest shortages are often terribly acute in parts of the Amazon, and some bishops from the area have long favored the idea of ordaining... Read more

To be young and Catholic today: ‘I still feel a level of disgust and betrayal’

Last updated on: October 22, 2018 at 8:57 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

From The Washington Post, a snapshot of young Catholics and their response to the sex abuse crisis: In a yellow townhouse just steps from Georgetown University on a recent evening, members of the campus group Catholic Women at Georgetown talked about how the Virgin Mary strengthens them in hard times as they shared a dinner of Domino’s pizza. In between swapping thoughts on homesickness and avoiding sin, the conversation turned to new allegations of sexual abuse by clergy in a... Read more

Since this is such a quiet, uneventful time in Church history, let’s tinker with hymn translations

Last updated on: October 21, 2018 at 7:12 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Seriously. This is what the U.S. bishops will be doing — among other things — next month: The US bishops are set to consider 139 English translations of Latin hymn texts that can be used in praying the Liturgy of the Hours when they meet from November 12 to 14 in Baltimore for their general assembly. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops “approved a scope of work for a new translation of the breviary in November 2012,” Archbishop Wilton Gregory... Read more

Sex talk at the Synod

Last updated on: October 21, 2018 at 7:36 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

It’s been a big topic of conversation among some of the working groups. From CNS: No one is excluded from the love of God or from being welcomed into the Catholic Church, but God’s love and the Church’s welcome also come with a call to conversion, said the English-language groups at the Synod of Bishops. Young people need to know “the Church’s beautiful, yet challenging, vision, teaching and anthropology of the body, sexuality, love and life, marriage and chastity,” said... Read more

Seminarians being targeted for verbal abuse on college campus

Last updated on: October 19, 2018 at 9:01 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: Seton Hall University’s interim president sent the campus community a stern reminder to be civil to everyone — even future Catholic priests — after several cases where seminarians were the targets of verbal abuse on campus. As the Catholic Church continues to deal with the fallout from the priest sex abuse scandal, Seton Hall Interim President Mary Meehan said seminarians studying for the priesthood have had expletives and insults hurled at them. “Recently my office has been informed of several instances... Read more

See you at the Jersey Shore

Last updated on: October 19, 2018 at 11:06 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

I’m heading south later today, to lead a retreat for the deacons of the Archdiocese of Newark. We’ll be at the wondrous San Alfonso Retreat House, a sprawling, peaceful place run by the Redemptorists. I last visited there five years ago, when I joined Rocco Palmo, Fr. Dave Dwyer and a couple other media types to take part in a panel on communications. I took these shots when we were there. I think it was in late September. It’s a... Read more

Let this sink in: nearly half of children born in the U.S. have parents who aren’t married

Last updated on: October 19, 2018 at 9:43 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: Nearly half of American children are now born to unmarried parents, according to a new report from the U.N.’s Population Fund, the largest international provider of sexual and reproductive health services. In the report released Wednesday, America is cited along with several developed nations in Europe and Asia where women are giving birth later in life and outside marriage due to what some experts say is partly due to changing religious ideas about marriage. The trend is also correlated to fertility declines. “Fertility... Read more

WATCH: Nikki Haley at the Al Smith Dinner

Last updated on: October 19, 2018 at 6:12 am By Deacon Greg Kandra

CNN has a good summary: Outgoing United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley joked Thursday during the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner that the organizers had “wanted an Indian woman, but Elizabeth Warren failed her DNA test.” At the dinner, which is known for political figures cracking jokes during the keynote address, Haley said that after President Donald Trump’s speech at the charity dinner for the Catholic Church two years ago and Paul Ryan giving a “choir boy” speech last year, “this year... Read more

U.S. Justice Department opens clergy abuse probe in Pennsylvania—UPDATED

Last updated on: October 18, 2018 at 8:57 pm By Deacon Greg Kandra

Details: The U.S. Justice Department has opened an investigation of child sexual abuse inside the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania. That’s according to two people familiar with the probe, who say federal prosecutors have served subpoenas on dioceses across the state that seek a trove of sensitive files and testimony from church leaders. More here. Story is developing. Stay tuned. UPDATE: More details late today, from The New York Times: The inquiry is believed to be the first statewide investigation... Read more