Gallup, N.M., Nov 6, 2019 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- The Diocese of Gallup has chosen to stop using Zoom Video Communications for its internet meetings, citing the company's support of abortion rights.
Eric Yuan, the founder and CEO of Zoom, was among the 187 executives who signed a letter that appeared a full-page ad in the New York Times June 10 criticizing regulations on abortion passed by state legislatures.
“Due to the company’s vocal support for abortion, the Diocese of Gallup has ceased all business with Zoom and will instead be seeking the use of an alternative platform for online meetings and presentations,” read a letter sent to the diocese's schools and parishes.
The diocese's education office had been utilizing Zoom for several years.
While acknowledging that “our monthly transactions with Zoom were not large,” the diocese said that “large or small, we cannot contribute to a company with anti-life policies.”
“It is distressing that the CEOs who paid for the ad call abortion restrictions 'bad for business', as if the life of a human being can be measured solely in monetary and economic value. We wholeheartedly reject this view.”
The Gallup diocese stated: “Each human, made in the image and likeness of God, is inherently worthy and has a right to life, from conception to natural death. We do not want to lose even a single future child, future student, future mother, father, sister or brother to abortion.”
“In providing the highest-quality Catholic education to our students, we must also strive to follow Christ and the teachings of his Church. We cannot truly be Christlike if we cooperate with evil or provide monetary support – even in the smallest amount – to other companies and institutions who promote and foster abortion, euthanasia, or other anti-life actions,” the diocese added.
The diocese has indicated that several Catholic companies and groups also use Zoom for video conferencing, and hopes that its decision may raise awareness of the company's stance on abortion.
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Jefferson City, Mo., Aug 24, 2017 / 06:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A governor’s decision to stay the imminent execution of a death row inmate following claims of new evidence has drawn praise from the Missouri Catholic Conference.
Catholics in the Archdiocese of Baltimore pack the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen during a concluding listening session on the archdiocese’s major parish restructuring plan on April 30, 2024. / Credit: Matthew Balan
Baltimore, Md., May 1, 2024 / 18:10 pm (CNA).
Hundreds of Catholic residents of Baltimore packed the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on Tuesday evening to give their often-impassioned reactions to a process that could lead to the closure of two-thirds of the city’s parishes.
Several parishes from the state’s largest city organized large contingents to attend the April 30 meeting, which was the final of three listening sessions for the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s “Seek the City” parish restructuring proposal. They made their presence known with custom-made T-shirts or ethnic attire, with some even carrying large banners that begged Archbishop William Lori to spare their churches.
Parishioners from the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in the Mount Washington neighborhood of the city printed a banner that proclaimed: “SOS! Save Our Shrine.” The group from the largely-Filipino parish also participated vocally in the session, including an emotional plea from John Tagle, a high school student. Tagle worried that his parish would be gone when he returned home from college.
Parishioners from the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Baltimore’s Mount Washington neighborhood display an “SOS! Save Our Shrine” banner at an April 30, 2024, listening session. Credit: Matthew Balan
A non-Filipino member of the shrine, David Bender, bluntly stated: “The proposal does not make spiritual sense.”
Many of those wearing custom T-shirts came from Holy Rosary, a parish in the Fells Point neighborhood that has connections to two Polish canonized saints. Some of their group wore ethnic attire and waved the white and red flag of their Eastern European homeland.
A young woman from Holy Rosary wondered why the archdiocese would shutter a place that was visited by St. John Paul II (when he was Cardinal Karol Wojytla in 1976). The parish is also directly tied to the canonization process of St. Faustina Kowalska, as it was the site of a documented miraculous healing attributed to the Polish sister.
Auxiliary Bishop Bruce Lewandowski gave a grim assessment as he spoke to local media before presiding over the listening session. “This is difficult. It’s heart-wrenching,” he emphasized. “But we’re at a pivotal moment in the city Church. We need to do this.”
Lewandowski led the attendees in prayer before starting the main presentation about the parish closure/consolidation proposal under “Seek the City.” He, along with two lay consultants, began a slideshow that first gave an overview of the two-year process leading up to the current juncture.
The trio then unveiled several slides that outlined the proposal to shrink the city’s parishes from 61 parishes to 26 parishes. The City of Baltimore, along with some immediate surrounding parts of neighboring Baltimore County, was divided into five regions (center, east, west, north, and south). While the first four regions would have three to five consolidated parishes, the south region would be reduced to only two.
An additional two parishes have been designated “personal parishes”: St. Ignatius, which is administered by the Jesuits, and St. Alphonsus, the home of the Traditional Latin Mass in Baltimore. During the listening session, the archdiocese disclosed that a final decision on the “Seek the City” proposal would be made by mid-June.
The slideshow spotlighted that four of the merged parishes would specifically minister to Hispanic communities. It also noted that the Filipino community — currently centered at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart — would move to the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.
“This is difficult. It’s heart-wrenching,” Auxiliary Bishop Bruce Lewandowski said. “But we’re at a pivotal moment in the city Church. We need to do this.” Credit: Matthew Balan
Other parishoners with deep roots in Baltimore City also bewailed the spiritual devastation the proposed restructuring would cause. A representative from St. Rita’s in Dundalk (a community that was directly impacted by the recent collapse of the Key Bridge at the mouth of Baltimore Harbor) begged: “Don’t let the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ leave Old Dundalk!”
Sue Jones, who has lived her entire life in the region, reflected on entering her eighth decade as a Catholic in the primatial see of the United States. Jones, who attends St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in the Hampden neighborhood, underlined that “killing [the parishes], or turning them into unrecognizable hubs, … is the final nail in the coffin for the Church in Baltimore City.” Her parish would be closed under the current proposal.
The lifelong Baltimore resident added that she remained hopeful.
“I’m so proud, because the remaining Catholics are here in spite of the archdiocese’s leadership,” she said after the listening session.
Excellent decision. Microsoft TEAMS provides the same service as Zoom. This is being spread around to diocese all over the country, so I think they’ll be getting a lot of cancellations. I know my own diocese spends nearly $6000 a month and they are canceling.
Congrats to them & I don’t use zoom anymore, but now my tutor wants to share course work through zoom but I let her know I don’t want to as zoom has promoted the evil of abortion just waiting now for a reply, so don’t know what to do now I asked my tutor could she use another platform or just email on notes, but like it’s all around us so are there really manner other alternatives? God Bless Miranda From Ireland 🕊☘👏
Unfortunately during the pandemic scam many of the parishes were using Zoom for their meetings as well as their “prayer” groups. Also Zoom is a Chinese control company.
Good for this diocese but have they applied that same standard to the bank they use? Their 401K company? Phone, cable and internet providers?
Pretty much every financial institution and corporate business is in the same boat as Zoom. If not supporting feticide, then they are advocating against traditional family values and marriage.
I changed jobs a couple years ago because the company I worked for embraced issues I opposed and they began to require employees to validate those issues to remain employed. My conscience wasn’t up for sale so I left.
I guess we each have to make the best decisions we can when we are surrounded by this sort of ideology. Every effort counts but we can’t disengage from it all.
OK so what alternative app have you started using.
Thanks.
Go to the conferrence or meeting in person.
Congratulations to those in the Gallup diocese who had tehcourage, intelligence, and foresight to make this decision.
Excellent decision. Microsoft TEAMS provides the same service as Zoom. This is being spread around to diocese all over the country, so I think they’ll be getting a lot of cancellations. I know my own diocese spends nearly $6000 a month and they are canceling.
Doesn’t Microsoft support abortion too?
Congrats to them & I don’t use zoom anymore, but now my tutor wants to share course work through zoom but I let her know I don’t want to as zoom has promoted the evil of abortion just waiting now for a reply, so don’t know what to do now I asked my tutor could she use another platform or just email on notes, but like it’s all around us so are there really manner other alternatives? God Bless Miranda From Ireland 🕊☘👏
Unfortunately during the pandemic scam many of the parishes were using Zoom for their meetings as well as their “prayer” groups. Also Zoom is a Chinese control company.
Good for this diocese but have they applied that same standard to the bank they use? Their 401K company? Phone, cable and internet providers?
Pretty much every financial institution and corporate business is in the same boat as Zoom. If not supporting feticide, then they are advocating against traditional family values and marriage.
I changed jobs a couple years ago because the company I worked for embraced issues I opposed and they began to require employees to validate those issues to remain employed. My conscience wasn’t up for sale so I left.
I guess we each have to make the best decisions we can when we are surrounded by this sort of ideology. Every effort counts but we can’t disengage from it all.