Words on Bathroom Walls Streaming Service: Theatrical Year: 2020 MPAA Rating: PG-13 USCCB Rating: NR Reel Rating: 3 reels out of 5 Words on Bathroom Walls is rare in that it features a schizophrenic person […]
CNA Staff, Aug 19, 2020 / 01:29 pm (CNA).- A conservationist charity is calling for the preservation of George Mayer-Marton’s The Crucifixion, a 1955 mosaic and fresco work located in a church that was closed in 2017 amid a diocesan reorganization.
The artwork “is increasingly at risk of vandalism, theft, and the threat of redevelopment,” according to an Aug. 17 statement from Save Britain’s Heritage.
The 26 foot mosaic depicts the crucified Christ in front of a gold mandorla. It is flanked by paintings of Our Lady and Saint John on a background of blue ombré.
The fresco was painted over in off-white in the 1980s, according to Save Britain’s Heritage “new evidence has concluded that the fresco remains intact under the paint and that it is possible to restore the mural to its original condition.”
It is behind the altar of the Church of the Holy Rosary in Oldham, about 12 miles northeast of Salford.
“This is an incredibly rare, well executed and important mural for Oldham and for England by a leading 20th century artist and lecturer – it needs protection and national recognition through listing and SAVE is ready to help find a secure future for it,” the director of Save Britain’s Heritage, Henrietta Billings, said.
The charity has asked that Historic England designate Holy Rosary as a listed building because of the mural.
The public body told the BBC that it is considering a request for listing, but that when it was asked to do so when the church was closed in 2017 it “advised that, although of some interest, it didn’t have enough special interest to meet the high benchmark for listing post-war artwork”.
A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Salford said preservation of The Crucifixion has been “of paramount importance” since the church closure, the BBC reported.
She said that “we have taken action to improve the security of the building to ensure the safety of the work and have co-operated with parties who have shown an interest in it,” and that the diocese would “continue to explore options to find a place where it can be permanently displayed” and is “committed to finding a new home” for the mural.
Another of Mayer-Marton’s mosaics, depicting Pentecost, was transferred in 1989 from Holy Ghost church in Netherton to the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.
Several groups have indicated an interest in preserving The Crucifixion since Holy Rosary’s closure.
A November 2018 piece at The Mallard reported that the Christian Heritage Centre had received permission from Bishop John Arnold of Salford to raise money to transfer the mosaic to its retreat center, the Theodore House.
The article indicated that the mosaic would dissembled and reassembled at its new location, at a cost of about GBP 250,000, or about $329,000. About $26,000 had been raised at the time of The Mallard’s article.
When Holy Rosary was designated for closure, the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association commented that the mosaic’s loss would be “very regrettable,” according to The Guardian.
Mayer-Marton was born in Hungary in 1897 to an agnostic family of Jewish heritage. He studied art in Vienna and Munich and was prominent among Viennese artists, but fled Austria in 1938 after its annexation by Nazi Germany. He and his wife settled in England, and he taught for the Arts Council of Great Britain and then, beginning in 1952, at the Liverpool College of Art. He died in 1960.
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 19, 2020 / 12:10 pm (CNA).- A new survey of neonatal medical professionals in the Belgian region of Flanders has found that nearly nine out of ten approve of euthanizing newborn children diagnosed with serious, non-lethal, medical conditions.
The article, titled, “Healthcare professionals’ attitudes towards termination of pregnancy at viable stage” was published in the journal Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica on August 2. The research was funded by the Research Foundation Flanders and Ghent University.
The researchers mailed a survey to physicians and paramedical professionals who are involved in “late termination of pregnancy decision-making” at each of Flanders’ eight neonatal intensive care units. Flanders is a region in northern Belgium.
The term “late termination of pregnancy” (TOP) refers to abortions that take place past the point of fetal viability. Abortion is legal in Belgium until the 12th week of a pregnancy, unless there are fetal defects or a risk to the life of the mother.
Seventy-nine percent of those mailed a survey responded. The respondents were nearly evenly split between physicians and paramedic professionals.
In the survey medical professionals were asked for their opinion on late-term abortions for unborn babies with lethal conditions, serious conditions that are not lethal, and for the healthy unborn babies of mothers with psychological or economic issues.
“Almost nine out of ten respondents (89.1%) agreed that in the event of a serious (non‐lethal) neonatal condition, administering drugs with the explicit intention to end neonatal life was acceptable,” said the article’s abstract.
“Neonatal” is defined as the first four weeks of a child’s life after they are born.
Neonatal medical professionals in Belgium widely approve of late-term abortion for a multitude of reasons.
For unborn babies with lethal conditions, 100% of the respondents agreed that it would be acceptable for a late-term abortion. That figure dropped to 95.6% for unborn children with serious, nonlethal diagnoses. Nearly one out of five respondents, 19.8%, agreed that late-term abortion was acceptable for a woman with psychological problems, and 13.2% said that they would agree with a post-viability abortion for a woman experiencing socio-economic problems.
Physicians, rather than paramedic professionals, were more likely to prefer late-term abortion rather than neonative palliative care for an unborn child diagnosed with a serious condition. More than two thirds of the physicians who responded said they “preferred feticide,” compared to 53.2% of paramedical professionals.
Dr. Charlie Camosy, a professor at Fordham University, told CNA that he was not shocked by these numbers, given Belgium’s promotion of euthanasia for the elderly and sick.
“Belgium is an example of what happens when fundamental human equality and dignity is abandoned in favor of a utilitarian calculation about what makes certain lives valuable and what make others able to be discarded and thrown away. Sometimes violently,” said Camosy.
Camosy noted that a recent New York Times article highlighted Belgian hospitals refusing to care for elderly or disabled COVID-19 patients, despite there being beds available.
With that context, “it is not surprising to learn that certain newborn babies don’t ‘count’ the same as the result of us and may be abandoned or killed,” he added.
CNA Staff, Aug 19, 2020 / 11:10 am (CNA).- Militants with the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) reportedly attacked the town of Kukawa in northeastern Nigeria on Tuesday, abducting hundreds of people.
Jihadists in nearly two dozen trucks atta… […]
Rome Newsroom, Aug 19, 2020 / 11:10 am (CNA).- A Benedictine abbot who helped to revive traditional monasticism and Gregorian chant in France was buried Wednesday in the 11th-century Abbey of Fontgombault, the monastery he led for more than 30 years.
Dom Antoine Forgeot died Aug. 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption and the 65th anniversary of his profession of vows. He was 87.
At his funeral Aug. 19, Forgeot was remembered for his courage, simplicity, and paternal affection for his monks. He led the Abbey of Notre-Dame, Fontgombault, from 1977 to 2011.
“Despite being abbot during a period where the Church struggled to find young men willing to pursue the vocation to the priesthood, Dom Antoine received such a large number of vocations that he found it necessary to found no less than four new monasteries, all the while overseeing renovations and construction projects on an aging medieval monastery in the central west part of France,” Fr. Joseph Hudson, OSB told CNA.
Hudson is a Benedictine of Clear Creek Abbey in Oklahoma, which was founded by Forgeot in 1999 with 50 monks.
He said that the surge in vocations for the Benedictine congregation of Solesmes can be traced back to when Forgeot was assistant to the novice master, nurturing at least 150 vocations from 1965 to 2011.
Forgeot oversaw the growth of the congregation, which led to the establishment of Benedictine abbeys in Triors and Gaussan, France and the founding of Clear Creek Abbey.
Dom Forgeot reparti au Ciel en ce samedi 15 août. La Vierge Marie était là pour l’accueillir.
Qu’il repose en Paix. Il contemple dorénavant Jésus qu’il connaissait déja tant sur Terre. #DomForgeot #Fontgombault
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— Samuel POTIER (@samuel_potier) August 16, 2020
Fontgombault Abbey is well known for its traditional liturgy and Gregorian chant.
“Though he adhered to and promoted the older form of liturgical worship, the usage of Latin and the so-called Tridentine Mass, he made a commitment to always do so under the direction of the Holy Father and the monastery was known far and wide for its orthodoxy and fidelity to the Holy See,” Hudson explained.
The abbey was founded as a Benedictine monastery in 1091. It was plundered and damaged by Calvinists in 1569 and later sold during the French Revolution as “national property” in 1791.
The Benedictines did not return to Fontgombault until 1948, when monks from the Abbey of Solemes worked to restore the abbey following World War II.
The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the patronal feast of the monastery, and the date that Forgeot made his profession of vows in 1955.
Monks at the abbey noted that Forgeot had said that he wanted to die on the Marian feast day. He had been taken to the hospital on the morning of Aug. 13 with an accelerated heartbeat.
After his death Aug. 15, Forgeot’s body was brought to the monastery, where two monks continuously prayed the Divine Office at his side for the next three days.
He was buried in a solemn ceremony with chants, incense, and prayers in the apse of the church of Our Lady of Fontgombault.
Vatican City, Aug 19, 2020 / 05:00 am (CNA).- A potential coronavirus vaccine should be made available to all, Pope Francis said at the general audience Wednesday.
“It would be sad if, for the vaccine for COVID-19, priority were to be given to t… […]
Denver Newsroom, Aug 19, 2020 / 03:00 am (CNA).- Catholics are speaking out on behalf of a Native American man on federal death row, who is set to be executed this month. The man’s tribe, the Navajo Nation, objects to the death sentence and has asked President Donald Trump to commute the sentence to life in prison.
Lezmond Mitchell, 38, and a co-defendant, both of whom are Navajo, killed a Navajo woman and her 9-year-old granddaughter on a Navajo reservation in 2001, NPR reports. Mitchell is scheduled to die in Terre Haute, Indiana on Aug. 26.
Bishop James Wall of Gallup, New Mexico is leading a virtual prayer vigil on the afternoon of Aug. 26 ahead of Mitchell’s scheduled execution.
The idea of the prayer vigil, Wall told CNA, is to pray for Mitchell’s conversion, for healing for the victims’ family, and for conversion of the hearts of the executioners.
Mitchell is currently the only Native American on federal death row. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his appeal earlier this year.
Mitchell’s attorneys argue that no Native American can be subjected to the death penalty for a crime committed against a fellow Native American on Native American land without the tribe’s consent. The Navajo Nation is a sovereign entity that extends into three states – New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.
Most tribal leaders object to the death penalty, and both the Navajo Nation and Mitchell’s victims’ family have objected to Mitchell’s execution.
Federal prosecutors sought the death penalty for Mitchell for the lesser charge of carjacking, which is a federal offense. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez has strongly criticized the federal government’s decision, saying that in addition to violating Navajo beliefs, Mitchell’s execution would undermine tribal sovereignty.
Wall said the leaders of the Navajo largely agree with the Church on the sacredness of human life, from conception to natural death.
“God is the author and giver of all human life, and we’re called to be good stewards of that life,” the bishop told CNA.
As the country moves forward, advances in the prison system allow the state to keep people safe from criminals without the use of the death penalty, which also gives those offenders and opportunity to genuinely repent, Wall said.
“It provides an opportunity for true contrition, true conversion of heart, and that opportunity to embrace Christ and the Gospel. And whenever we do something like this, when we take a life, what we also do is we don’t provide that person the opportunity to repent. And everyone has to be given that opportunity,”
Gallup is a small town that lies just outside the reservation, but is nevertheless a vital hub for many of the reservation’s residents. The Navajo Nation has only a handful of grocery stores in its entire area, which is larger than West Virginia, so many Navajo people travel as many as three hours to get supplies in Gallup.
The Diocese of Gallup was founded in order to minister to and among the Native American people, Wall said, which brings with it many challenges. Gallup is one of the poorest dioceses in the U.S.
Wall said the poverty and lack of resources in the area make the dioceses’ work even more vital. The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the economic and health disparities in the Navajo Nation, as infection rates climb.
“So you don’t have a lot of resources, and I think at times you don’t draw a lot of attention to some of the things that are going on, as much as if it were a big city like Los Angeles, or Phoenix, or Chicago,” he said.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the death penalty “inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.”
The federal government resumed executions in July 2020, the first federal executions since 2003. The last scheduled execution this year is set for Aug. 28.
Several U.S. bishops, along with clergy and religious brothers and sisters from around the country, joined more than 1,000 faith leaders in calling for a stop to the scheduled executions.
The prison where the executions will take place fall within the archdiocese of Indianapolis. Archbishop Charles C. Thompson of Indianapolis opposed the executions on June 18, noting his jurisdiction with regard to the location of Terre Haute federal prison and stating that “the supreme law of the Church, the salvation of souls, demands that I speak out on this very grave matter at hand.”
“Since the pontificate of Pope St. John Paul II, it has been the Catholic position that today’s prison system is quite adequate to protect society from inmates escaping or being unlawfully set free,” he said.
While the crimes of the federal inmates cannot be ignored, Thompson said, “humanity cannot allow the violent act of an individual to cause other members of humanity to react in violence.”
In his 2003 encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia (The Church from the Eucharist), Pope St. John Paul II invited Catholics to regain a sense of “Eucharistic amazement.” Being “amazed” by the Eucharist is probably not all that common […]
Douglas Farrow, PhD, is professor of theology and Christian thought at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. A noted lecturer and a prolific essayist, he is the author of several books, including Ascension and Ecclesia, Ascension Theology, […]
Denver Newsroom, Aug 18, 2020 / 05:05 pm (CNA).- The godfather of an arrested Hong Kong Catholic entrepreneur and pro-democracy advocate says he hopes Jimmy Lai’s courageous example will inspire more calls for justice amid an […]
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