Washington D.C., Nov 28, 2019 / 10:00 am (CNA).- A reporter and a researcher who reviewed literature on “gender affirmation” have raised concerns about growing political and academic support for life-altering surgical procedures.
“We… […]
Denver, Colo., Nov 28, 2019 / 03:00 am (CNA).- As many gather for Thanksgiving each year around tables filled with food and family, the National Council of the U.S. Society of St. Vincent de Paul sets out to make sure that the poor and homeless will al… […]
Grand Rapids, Mich., Nov 27, 2019 / 06:55 pm (CNA).- A Michigan diocese said it supports a priest who told a parishioner that because of her same-sex civil marriage she should not receive the Eucharist.
“Inclusion and acceptance have been a hallmark of Catholic Churches in the Diocese of Grand Rapids throughout the diocese’s history. They remain so. They presume, however, a respect on the part of individuals for the teachings and practice of the wider Catholic community,” the Diocese of Grand Rapids said in a statement Thursday.
“No community of faith can sustain the public contradiction of its beliefs by its own members. This is especially so on matters as central to Catholic life as marriage, which the Church has always held, and continues to hold, as a sacred covenant between one man and one woman.” the diocese added.
The diocesan statement came after a Nov. 26 report from local news channel WOOD TV 8, which claimed that Fr. Scott Nolan of St. Stephen Parish in East Grand Rapid had “denied Communion,” to Judge Sara Smolenski, chief judge of the Kent County District Court.
Smolenski, 62, did not apparently tell the news channel that she had been denied communion during Mass, but rather that Nolan had instructed her by telephone not to continue receiving the Eucharist at the parish.
The priest did administer the sacrament to Smolenski Nov. 17, according to a letter some parishioners sent to Grand Rapids’ Bishop David Walkowiak.
The parishioners wrote that Smolenski stopped attending St. Stephens “last spring for fear that she would be denied the Eucharist,” as other parishioners apparently had.
While Smolenski attended Mass Nov. 17, and received the Eucharist, the parishioners wrote that Nolan subsequently “called her to demand that she ‘respect the church’ and not return for the sacrament in the future.”
Smolenski told the news station that: “The way he said it was ‘because you’re married to Linda in the state of Michigan, you cannot accept communion.’”
“I try to be a good and faithful servant to our Lord Jesus Christ. My faith is a huge part of who I am, but it is the church that made that faith, the very church where he is taking a stance and saying ho-ho, not you,” she added, also telling the local news station that she had devoted her life to the Church and recently given a $7,000 gift to the parish.
Smolenski reportedly told a fellow parishioner that she was attending Nov. 17 Mass to see whether Nolan would administer communion to her, according to sources in the parish.
The priest told WOOD TV 8 Nov. 27 that he “taught what all of the popes who have ever said something about the emergent family have said up to and including Pope Francis,” regarding the reception of holy communion.
Nolan said that he is required in his ministry to ensure that those who receive the Eucharist do so in accord with Catholic doctrine and discipline.
The Church teaches that homosexual activity is a moral evil, and that those conscious of grave sin should not receive the Eucharist. The Church also has taught that contracting a same-sex civil marriage can be “obstinate perserverance in manifest grave sin,” which would prohibit a person from being admitted to communion.
The diocese agreed with the priest’s version of events. “Father Nolan approached Judge Smolenski privately. Subsequent media reports do not change the appropriateness of his action, which the diocese supports,” the Nov. 27 statement said.
Nolan, 33, was ordained a priest of the Grand Rapids diocese in 2013.
Smolenski and Nolan have had previous run-ins. The judge is one of several parishioners who has criticized some of Nolan’s actions as pastor of the parish; which have included requiring that lectors at parish Masses be Catholics.
In October, Smolenski co-authored a letter to Michigan lawyers raising concerns about Nolan, who is chaplain to the Catholic Lawyer’s Association.
The letter said that Nolan had refused the Eucharist to two women in a same-sex civil marriage.
“This hurtful and humiliating action of publicly denying communion because they are gay has caused much hardship at the parish and in the greater community.”
“This act by Fr. Scott is a clear indication that he will continue to practice selective discrimination against members of our community,” the letter said.
Nevertheless, Smolenski wrote, “We acknowledge Fr. Nolan’s right, under the authority of the Church, to deny communion to those who are not in conformity with the teaching of the Church.”
The diocese also recognized that right.
“Father Scott Nolan, pastor of St. Stephen Parish, has dedicated his priesthood to bringing people closer to Jesus Christ. Part of his duty in pursuing that end is to teach the truth as taught by the Catholic Church, and to help it take root and grow in his parish. Mercy is essential to that process, but so are humility and conversion on the part of anyone seeking to live an authentically Catholic Christian life,” the diocesan statement said.
Wheeling, W.V., Nov 27, 2019 / 05:20 pm (CNA).- The disgraced Bishop Michael Bransfield, former head of the Wheeling-Charleston diocese, should apologize to his victims of sexual harassment, apologize to the diocese’s Catholic faithful, and repay… […]
Tokyo, Japan, Nov 27, 2019 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- “Most of Japanese people don’t know we exist,” Minori Takeuchi told CNA last week.
“Or they think we are connected to cults. They think, ‘You must be dangerous! Or crazy!&rsqu… […]
Nathaniel Delaney, the protagonist of Michael D. O’Brien’s Plague Journal—the third novel in a sequence of seven entitled Children of the Last Days—is the editor of a small-town newspaper in British Columbia when the novel […]
Harrisburg, Pa., Nov 27, 2019 / 01:01 pm (CNA).- Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf signed into law Tuesday three bills on child sex abuse, which were recommended by the state’s 2018 grand jury report on allegations of clerical sexual abuse of minors.
“These bills will today become law, and victims of one of the most unimaginable forms of abuse will receive the support and rights they deserve,” Wolf said Nov. 26. “And while we celebrate the monumental victory of many survivors of childhood sexual abuse finally receiving their opportunity for justice, we must continue pushing forward until every survivor, of every age, has the chance to tell his or her story.”
The first law abolishes the state’s criminal statute of limitations on child sex abuse and extends the timeline victims have to file civil action against their abusers. It also extends the statutes of limitations for victims age 18-24, and provides funds for counseling services.
The second increases penalties for failure to report child abuse by a mandated reporter, and the third exempts conversations with law enforcement agents from non-disclosure agreements.
A redacted version of the grand jury report was released Aug. 14, 2018. It detailed sexual abuse allegations in six of Pennsylvania’s eight Latin-rite dioceses, following an 18-month investigation into thousands of alleged instances of abuse spanning several decades.
The grand jury report was adopted and issued by the grand jury, but its text was drafted by the office of Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
At the bills’ signing, Shapiro said, “These reforms fundamentally change our justice system and will protect generations of children who experience abuse from this day on. While we still must address justice for those survivors who made this day possible, seeing this progress gives me hope that bravery and activism will win over entrenched interests and powerful institutions.”
Due to laws regarding the statute of limitations, nearly every abuse allegation in the report cannot be criminally prosecuted.
Wolf also supports House Bill 963, which would amend the state constitution to create a two-year revival window in which victims can file civil charges in old cases. The bill must pass two consecutive legislative sessions before it can go on the ballot for voters to amend the constitution.
Cairo, Egypt, Nov 27, 2019 / 12:01 pm (CNA).- Human rights groups have voiced concern over the arrest of a Coptic Christian activist in Egypt, on terrorism-related charges. Critics argue the arrest is an attempt to silence those who disagree with the g… […]
Phoenix, Ariz., Nov 27, 2019 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- The Church must face the fallout of the abuse scandal with humility and courage, Bishop Thomas Olmstead of Phoenix has said, while predicting “very difficult” years ahead for the Church.
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Baltimore, Md., Nov 27, 2019 / 11:30 am (CNA).- The United States Department of Justice on Tuesday filed a statement of interest in support of a Christian school in Maryland that says it was banned from a voucher program due to its religious beliefs.
The DOJ said it found no evidence that the school had discriminated against students or violated the rules for religious schools set forth by the voucher program.
Bethel Ministries, an ecclesial community that runs Bethel Christian Academy, filed a lawsuit in June against the Maryland Department of Education, after the department disqualified the academy from participating in the state’s Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today (BOOST) voucher program, which benefits low-income students.
The school claims it was disqualified from the program on account of its religious beliefs in Christian marriage and sexuality, stated in its handbook. The handbook was reviewed by the state’s department of education before the school was banned from the program.
Bethel is a kindergarten through eighth-grade academy with a diverse student population of 85% non-white students, according to the DOJ. It had participated in the BOOST program since the 2016-2017 school year.
Earlier this month, a federal district court judge denied Maryland’s motion to dismiss the school’s lawsuit.
In its Nov. 26 statement, the DOJ said, “The United States is resolutely committed to protecting the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. The First Amendment enshrines both the right to ‘the free exercise’ of religion and ‘the freedom of speech’ at the bedrock of the Nation’s constitutional system. These freedoms lie at the heart of a free society and are the ‘effectual guardian of every other right.’”
The DOJ also noted that it has an interest in enforcing Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “which allows the Attorney General to file suit when a school board deprives children of equal protection of the law, or when a public college excludes persons based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” The department stated that it found Bethel Christian Academy does not discriminate against its students and that the school’s lawsuit was likely to succeed on the grounds of freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
“Bethel has introduced a declaration, made under penalty of perjury, stating that it ‘does not ask about, or consider’ sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression ‘in its student admission decisions,’” the DOJ stated.
“And Bethel has represented to the Court that it ‘has not, and will not, discriminate against any student based on sexual orientation, either in admissions or beyond,’ that ‘Bethel discriminates against no one,’ and that its ‘conduct policies apply equally to every student and only when at school.’”
The school requires all of its students to use facilities according to their biological sex and to refrain from discussions of a sexual nature or from public displays of affection. Its uniform policy has a unisex option with slacks, and an option with dresses or jumpers for girls, if they so choose.
According to the DOJ, beginning in 2019, the BOOST program has prohibited discrimination on the basis of “gender identity or expression,” as well as in “student admissions, retention, or expulsion or otherwise.” “The BOOST program’s nondiscrimination requirement states, however, that it does not ‘require any school or institution to adopt any rule, regulation, or policy that conflicts with its religious or moral teachings,’” the DOJ noted. The DOJ said that the statement of the school’s beliefs in a Christian view of marriage and sexuality in its handbook does not constitute discrimination, and that the program’s banning of the school constitutes “unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.”
“Although the government may prohibit discriminatory conduct, even when the discriminatory conduct involves some ancillary speech, Defendants have introduced no evidence of discriminatory conduct. Further, Bethel has repeatedly affirmed that it does not, and will not, discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and has squarely represented to the Court that it ‘discriminates against no one,’” the DOJ stated. “Supreme Court and lower court precedent make clear that penalizing Bethel for its beliefs goes beyond regulating conduct to regulating expression in violation of the Free Speech Clause, and coercing Bethel to renounce its religious character in violation of the Free Exercise Clause,” the statement added.
Furthermore, the defendants are violating the school’s right to free speech “by predicating government funds on the nature and expression of Bethel’s beliefs,” the DOJ noted. “For the foregoing reasons, the Court should hold that Bethel has demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of its free speech and free exercise claims for purposes of its motion for a preliminary injunction,” the DOJ concluded.
The statement was submitted by Reed D. Rubinstein, Principal Deputy General Counsel for the DOJ, Riddhi Dasgupta and Christine Pratt, attorney advisors for the U.S. Department of Education, Eric S. Dreiband, Assistant Attorney General, Elliott M. Davis, Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, and Eric W. Treene, Special Counsel for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ.
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