Denver Newsroom, Jun 10, 2020 / 01:11 pm (CNA).- At the press conference announcing his appointment as Washington’s new shepherd, Archbishop Wilton Gregory made a pledge: “I will always tell you the truth as I […]
CNA Staff, Jun 10, 2020 / 02:42 pm (CNA).- Ongoing American conversation on race and history focused on cinema Wednesday, when streaming service HBO Max announced it would pull “Gone with the Wind” from its rotation of movies, adding inform… […]
CNA Staff, Jun 10, 2020 / 02:25 pm (CNA).- The Vatican has intervened to halt a controversial plan to reorganize a German diocese.
Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier met with the heads of the Congregation for Clergy and the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts in Rome June 5 to discuss the diocesan plans to restructure several hundred parishes into 35 “XXL parishes.”
On June 6, the diocese confirmed that the meeting took place between Ackermann and diocesan officials, and Cardinal Beniamino Stella and Archbishop Filippo Iannone, who lead the two curial departments. While the meeting was held in a “positive atmosphere,” CNA Deutsch reported Tuesday that the diocesan plans may not be implemented in their current form.
According to a statement from the diocese, “the Congregation for Clergy, like the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, has concerns about the proposed reform of the parishes, as described in the law on the implementation of the results of the diocesan synod.”
The diocese said that the concerns were “in particular as regards the role of the pastor in the leadership team of the parish, the service of other priests, the conception of the parish bodies, the size of the future parishes and the speed of implementation.”
The restructuring program was formally adopted by the diocese in October last year, following a three-year diocesan synod aimed at addressing declining Mass attendance, a shortage of vocations, and other challenges facing the Church in Germany.
After Bishop Ackermann announced the Law for the Implementation of the Results of the Diocesan Synod (2013-2016), several local Catholics, including some priests, voiced concerns about its provisions, and in November last year the Congregation for Clergy and PCLT asked that the plan be delayed while it was studied in Rome.
The plans included the merger of all of the diocese’s 887 parishes into 35 larger parishes, led by “pastoral teams” of laypeople and priest. Under the plans, a local lay group said, “the specific transmission of the preaching, especially the homily, to volunteers/lay people will lose the specific nature of the priestly office.” Other concerns included the centralization of parishes, meaning Catholics in some parts of the diocese would have to travel up to 50 miles for Mass.
Following the meeting in Rome last week, the diocese released a statement saying that “during the conversation, the bishop made it clear what challenges the diocese of Trier is currently facing.”
“In particular, these include: the reduction in the faithful’s commitment to church life over [several] years, the decline in [local] church involvement and the tremors caused by the discovery of sexual abuse by clerics in the people of God.”
“In addition,” the diocese said, “demographic change, declining financial resources and the lack of priests are limiting pastoral opportunities in the diocese.”
The diocese said that Bishop Ackermann would now work with staff and members of his diocesan curia to form a new plan that respects the “mandate” of the three-year diocesan synod and addresses Rome’s concerns.
This Sunday is a very special anniversary for all who admire the great English writer, G. K. Chesterton. It was on this date in 1936 that Chesterton died. In that year, the Sunday after Corpus […]
CNA Staff, Jun 10, 2020 / 12:10 pm (CNA).- The U.S. ambassador for religious freedom warned on Wednesday that some governments might close houses of worship for good after the coronavirus pandemic subsides.
Addressing the closure of churches, mosques,… […]
Rome, Italy, Jun 10, 2020 / 07:00 am (CNA).- Italian bishops have raised concerns over proposed legislation against homophobia in Italy, claiming changes to the law are unnecessary and have the potential to infringe on the civil liberties of those… […]
Vatican City, Jun 10, 2020 / 06:15 am (CNA).- Pope Francis named Fr. Bruce Lewandowski as an auxiliary bishop of Baltimore Wednesday.
The Redemptorist priest currently serves as pastor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Baltimore, Maryland.
… […]
Vatican City, Jun 10, 2020 / 05:15 am (CNA).- Pope Francis appointed Wednesday Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski to lead the Metropolitan Archdiocese of St. Louis.
Rozanski, 61, is the current Bishop of Springfield, Massachusetts, where he has served since 2014. He succeeds Archbishop Robert Carlson, who presented his resignation to Pope Francis at the age of 75.
“I am confident in the future of God’s strong Church in St. Louis with Archbishop-elect Rozanski as its shepherd,” Archbishop Carlson wrote on Twitter following the announcement on June 10.
A Baltimore native, Rozanski was born in 1958, and attended Catholic schools in the city. He attended seminary at the Catholic University of America, and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 1984. He served in parish ministry, the archdiocesan curia, and with its seminary, and was named a monsignor in 2003.
Pope John Paul II appointed Rozanski as auxiliary bishop of Baltimore in 2004. He oversaw one of Baltimore archdiocese’s geographical vicariates while parishes were merged, and served as vicar for Hispanics. He was vocal in supporting Maryland’s DREAM act, allowing some undocumented immigrants to receive in-state college tuition.
At the time of his episcopal consecration, Rozanski was the youngest bishop in the United States. He went on to serve as chair of the U.S. bishops’ conference committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and as a consultant to the National Association for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities.
A Polish-American, Rozanski has co-chaired the Polish National Catholic – Roman Catholic Dialogue. The Polish National Catholic Church is an ecclesial community founded in the U.S. in the late 19th-century by Polish-American immigrants.
He is a member of the Knights of Columbus and a Knight Commander of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
As Metropolitan Archbishop of St. Louis, Rozanski will oversee the largest city in Missouri, with a population of 2.25 million people across the archdiocese, 509,280 of which are Catholic.
The title of “metropolitan bishop” refers to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis, namely, the primary city of an ecclesiastical province or regional capital.
Archbishop Robert Carlson led the Archdiocese of St. Louis since 2009.
“I am honored to have served as leader of the Archdiocese of St. Louis for more than a decade,” Carlson said following Rozanaki’s appointment.
“This large and generous community of faithful Catholics will continue to encourage me in my faith journey, and I know that Bishop Rozanski will cherish his new ministry.”
Pope Francis also appointed Fr. Bruce Lewandowski as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Baltimore June 10.
Vatican City, Jun 10, 2020 / 04:30 am (CNA).- In our darkest moments God awaits us and is ready to transform us, Pope Francis said at his general audience Wednesday.
Reflecting on Jacob’s struggle with an angel described in the Book of Genesis, … […]
Denver Newsroom, Jun 10, 2020 / 03:00 am (CNA).- Two black Catholic priests— one ordained six years, the other 42— shared their thoughts with CNA this week on the sin of racism, and the importance of praying, fasting, and advocating for healing.
Father Josh Johnson, pastor of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in the diocese of Baton Rouge, told CNA he has been encouraging prayer for healing from racism for years.
George Floyd’s death on May 25 at the hands of Minneapolis police spurred protests across the world. Father Johnson said a friend sent him the video of the arrest either the day it happened or the day after.
“I shouldn’t have done it, I shouldn’t have done it, but I watched the video,” he said.
Johnson says he didn’t just see a fellow black man as he watched Floyd’s death play out on video— he saw a Christian man, a fellow member of the body of Jesus Christ.
“To watch a human being die, to watch a member of the body of Christ die on camera…He’s saying, ‘I can’t breathe,’ his calling out for his mom…to watch another human being die on camera was traumatizing,” Father Johnson told CNA.
“As a Christian, as a Catholic priest, I can’t watch that happen and not be affected and not grieve, not be sad, not experience anger that I pray was just, and then also just not be reminded of my own experiences, too,” he said.
Johnson’s father was a cop— in fact, he was captain of the Baton Rouge Police Department. Johnson says he has had the opportunity to collaborate with local law enforcement throughout his priesthood.
“However, that does not change the fact that when I’m not wearing my clerics, people in society don’t see me as Father Josh, they see me as another black man,” he said.
Johnson said he, like many people of color, has experienced harassment from law enforcement in the past.
“[George Floyd] could have been me. I can’t not think that way, because I’ve had negative experiences” he said.
“It’s painful. It’s really, really painful to watch that, and it’s even more painful for people to just disregard it, for Catholics to just disregard it and say, ‘Oh yeah, it was bad, but other things are bad too.’ It’s like, no, let’s stop. As disciples of Jesus Christ, let’s just stop, and let’s grieve together that one of our brothers, one of God’s beloved sons, was killed. Can we just please stop and grieve together and not dismiss his life as if it was nothing? This is a life we’re talking about.”
For too long, it seemed to Johnson, most Catholics have been inattentive to racism or overly entrenched in a left-or-right political mindset over the issue.
Johnson told CNA that in addition to talking, writing, and preaching about these topics for years, he has been constantly praying and fasting for an end to racism.
A few weeks before the Minneapolis officers killed George Floyd, Father Johnson had been inviting listeners of his podcast to pray a rosary for racial reconciliation.
“Finally now, this is the very first time in my life…that a number of Catholics have come together and decided, “We’re going to acknowledge that there’s a problem and we’re going to acknowledge that God is inviting us to be part of the solution,” Johnson said.
“If the disciples of Jesus Christ could come together, then we could be used by God to combat this evil that has just brought about so much damage to the body of Christ, and to men and women made in the image of God in the United States of America, for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years.”
Any effort to combat racism must start in the heart, with prayer, he said.
“Through our prayers— our intentional prayers— through our fasting, through our listening and learning things that we didn’t know, and through collaborating with each other, to work together, to bring down and to reform and transform these systems that continue to perpetuate division in the body of Christ.”
Johnson said his encouragement toward prayer has garnered positive feedback from people of faith, especially white people, he said, with many realizing “that they could do something— that even though they might not personally have ever said the n-word, or they might not participate in a practice or policy that accommodates white people and alienates black people or brown people, even though they don’t participate in that, that they’re still responsible to pray against racism.”
Johnson stressed the power of penance and fasting as a way to heal the Body of Christ. Throughout the recent revelations of clerical sexual abuse in the US, Johnson says he has been taking on fasts and sacrifices for the healing of those affected.
He also recommended following black Catholic leaders online, such as Sister Josephine Garrett and Deacon Larry Oney, and also encouraged Catholics to consider making pilgrimages to places like the Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.
Above all, prayer is the key, he reiterated.
“I believe that the Lord has created me for this time, for a time such as this,” Johnson said.
“I’m so excited to finally have allies and other disciples of Jesus Christ walking with me to fight this battle, to bring about healing in the body of Christ and restoration, renewal and racial reconciliation in our country.”
“This is one that we cannot ignore”
Father James Boddie, pastor of Christ the King Catholic Church in Jacksonville, Florida, has been a priest for 42 years.
Christ the King is a very diverse community. In addition to many African Americans— like Father Boddie— there are large numbers of Vietnamese people, Hispanics, families from Haiti, from Africa, and many white parishioners as well.
Like Father Johnson, Father Boddie’s first reaction upon seeing the video of George Floyd’s death was horror, and an immediate desire to pray.
“I went immediately into prayer for Mr. George Floyd, for his family and for the police department,” Father Boddie told CNA.
“The actions of a few police officers does not cast a shadow over the entire police department, but those individuals who acted that way was just…it was unimaginable.”
When he entered St. John Vianney Minor Seminary in Miami back in the 1970s, he was the first African-American seminarian from Florida to study there.
Father Boddie remembers the civil rights movement of the 1960s firsthand. In fact, his father was involved in civil rights efforts in the Jacksonville area.
“He worked very hard in the community, addressing those issues [and] working with others…whether it’s for the desegregating schools or issues that affect the African American community, but also issues that affect the community at large, because there’s a lot of issues out there that the only way to really approach it is the entire community coming together,” Boddie said.
“I saw [in] the first mobilization that people were marching, from the old, the young people from various cultures, various backgrounds from very different communities,” he said.
Goal setting is an important part of the process, he said. Government leaders, faith leaders, and other community members should work together to plan out what they want to achieve.
When protests begin to turn violent, a re-focusing on the issues is necessary, Father Boddie said.
“When you started to see the violence and destruction taking place, that’s when I felt that it began to lose focus. Why is that destruction? Why are particular groups destroying people’s property, livelihood?” he said.
“Focus back on what they’re marching for: to address the issue of racism, the issue of injustice, but also do it in peaceful means and involving everyone from the community and not going towards destruction of property, of burning down buildings, because that is contrary to everything,” he said.
He also suggested that Catholics read the US bishops’ 2018 pastoral letter against racism, Open Wide Our Hearts, perhaps even in a group study setting at their parish.
“My hope is that everyone comes together— everyone comes together as one— identifying that, yes, this is a problem. This is one that we cannot ignore,” he said.
Kate Olivera contributed to this story.
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