CNA Staff, Aug 18, 2020 / 08:30 am (CNA).- A Catholic bishop deplored Tuesday the murder of a human rights activist in the Philippines.
Zara Alvarez was shot dead Aug. 17 in Bacolod, a city on Negros Island in central Philippines.
In an A… […]
Vatican City, Aug 18, 2020 / 06:30 am (CNA).- Pope Francis has approved the extension of the Jubilee Year of Loreto to 2021.
The decision was announced Aug. 14 by Archbishop Fabio Dal Cin, the prelate of the Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto, Italy, after … […]
CNA Staff, Aug 18, 2020 / 04:00 am (CNA).- A Catholic archbishop urged the embattled government of Belarus Tuesday to allow priests to visit imprisoned protesters.
According to an Aug. 18 report on the website of the Catholic Church in Belarus, … […]
CNA Staff, Aug 18, 2020 / 03:29 am (CNA).-
Two-and-a-half months after violent rioters wreaked havoc on State Street in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, smashing in windows and looting 75 stores, a different kind of gathering took place.
This time, roughly 2,000 people from throughout the state peacefully processed through the street, led by Bishop Donald Hying carrying the Holy Sacrament in a monstrance, during a Eucharistic procession for peace and unity in the city. Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee also joined the procession.
“The ultimate hope is that God would unleash his mighty healing, saving power upon us in a moment of great difficulty and challenge,” Hying told CNA.
“As we look at the pandemic, as we look at the economy, as we look at racial unrest, as we look at violence, at the political situation…we have some very profound problems in our country and all of them ultimately have a spiritual solution,” he said.
Fr. Rick Heilman, who attended the procession and helped organize it, said he was happy with the large and peaceful turnout. Heilman said he did not notice any angry counter-protests or irritated bystanders.
Even the weather cooperated with the event, Heilman added, as rain that had been falling all morning cleared up just as the procession was getting started.
“It was stormy all morning,” Heilman said. “And then the skies opened up as we started, and it was 72 degrees. We haven’t had a day like that all summer long.”
Heilman said the procession was organized by Men of Christ, a Milwaukee-based apostolate for Catholic men, and was co-sponsored by multiple local ministries and parishes. The idea for a Eucharistic procession had been inspired by a recent successful procession led by Heilman and his parish on the Feast of Corpus Christi in June, in which roughly 300 people participated.
The procession was held on Saturday, August 15, on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was named the “Unite Wisconsin” procession because of its goal of uniting the state in prayer, Heilman said.
“We are called to be unified. But unified where?” Heilman said. “At the foot of the cross. At the truths of the Gospel.”
Heilman said he has also been organizing groups to pray the rosary at the state capitol since May, when protests and riots erupted over the killing of George Floyd, a Black man killed by police in Minneapolis on May 25. He said he’s been inspired by the image of Our Lady, Queen of Peace, a statue of Mary at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, in which Mary is holding out one of her hands in a way that seems to be asking people to stop being violent.
Heilman said the Gospel passage that he keeps turning to in these unprecedented times is the one where the apostles are in a boat on a stormy sea, and Jesus comes to them, walking on the water. When Peter realizes it is Jesus, he asks to walk on the water too, and Jesus calls him to do so.
“But then what happens is (Peter) starts noticing the strength of the storm,” Heilman said.
“So what does he do? He takes his eye off of Jesus,” he said.
“And in essence, the interpretation of that is that, he’s believing that the storm is more powerful than the son of God,” Heilman added. “So I’ve been telling people, just remember this: God is more powerful than the devil. Okay? And you’ve got to keep your eye on God. And I’m hoping upon hope that this period of time that we’re going through is kind of awakening all of us to be even stronger in our belief in the supernatural power of God.”
Bishop Hying added that another one of the goals of the procession was to give people hope, during a time where they are more isolated than normal due to the coronavirus pandemic, and when the unrest in the country may be causing distress and despair.
“Many participants commented on that – that the day, the (procession) experience, gave them hope. They’re mired in despair, social isolation and fear, and coming together publicly with the Lord really gave them light, hope, and peace to move forward,” he said.
The day of the procession was also the first day of a 54-day rosary novena that many people are participating in, Hying said. He noted that he, like many other bishops, has been encouraging the recitation of the rosary throughout the pandemic.
“Mary is our greatest advocate before the throne of God. Mary is the one who gave birth to the Lord in his human flesh, but also before that was the first disciple, the first believer,” he said.
“So we see her both as disciple and mother and…(as) St. Louis de Montfort puts it so beautifully, we receive the fullness of Jesus through Mary, so it makes sense that we go through Mary to encounter Jesus fully as well.”
Hying added that Eucharistic processions are common throughout the history of the Church, when the world has faced challenging times.
“Anytime in Church history, when we faced severe challenges, we would process with the Eucharist,” he said. “We’d allow the power of the Eucharist to be brought into the streets and unleash the gift of Jesus.”
Denver Newsroom, Aug 18, 2020 / 12:00 am (CNA).-
A Texas diocese has launched a series of parenting workshops to help moms and dads create a better family life for their children.
The Diocese of Victoria will soon roll out the “Be an Amazing Parent” series of online workshops, offered on the evenings of Aug. 19, Aug. 26 and Sept. 2.
Each workshop will address a unique aspect of the family structure, including healthy marriages, family communication, and household environment. The workshop was helped shaped by a diocese-wide survey answered by parishioners who described an interest in more parental resources, especially during the pandemic.
Justin Reyes, Director for the Office of Family Evangelization in the Diocese of Victoria, said the goal of the initiative is to “give families hope during this time” of COVID-19 and “to help parents see themselves as the ones God has put to be the parents for their children.”
“We are called to be an amazing parent and only we can do it for our kids, no one else is going to do it. We are going to give them some practical tips and advice that will help them … but also build a community,” Reyes told CNA.
When Reyes began his position last year, he issued a survey to parishioners asking what needs the diocese could help with. The responses mostly centered on parenting.
The top three challenges parents described facing were demanding schedules, overuse of technology, and financial hardships.
“One hope that I have is helping families think about priorities will help them slow down a little bit and then see what’s really important and then spend their money accordingly,” he said.
“In today’s consumer culture, [people are] trying to keep up with the Joneses …. but [we want to] help families slow down and a [see] what’s most important is the mission right in your home.”
So far, around 20 or 25 Catholics couples have signed up for the workshops, which will be hosted in interactive online sessions.
The sessions are the beginning of the diocese’s parenting outreach, which will continue with regular follow-up sessions, where parents can connect, first virtually and then in person. The diocese hopes those sessions will be an opportunity for parents to build a community so they can exchange resources and share advice.
The first session, “Marriage: The Core of Parenting,” will address how investing in a healthy marriage can provide a strong base and foundation for raising children.
The hosts for the workshop will include Fr. Gary Janak, who is a licensed professional counselor, and Laura and Justin Reyes, who will offer insights and examples from their own marriage.
“We’re planning on talking about keys for a healthy marriage,” he said. “My wife and I are going to share testimonies from our own lives.”
“Fr. Gary is going to speak from the role of counseling … because he meets with couples very often and has actually developed a marriage retreat … It is a really wonderful program that helps marriages go from good to great.”
In the second session, Ashley Silvas and Valeria Dubourdieu, counselors at the diocesan Emmaus Center, will lead the workshop “Communicating with Your Children,” a topic that is especially important during the pandemic, said Reyes.
“Ashley really wants to go talk about the coronavirus and how it’s affecting children, how they’re expressing their feelings and emotions differently. One of the things that Ashley talks about is if [children] are stressed out, they’re not showing it in the same way. Then [kids are] picking up [ques] from their parents, the way parents are reacting to things.”
A final workshop in the series, “Creating a Family Culture,” will include presentations from several families, who will discuss their experiences establishing a Catholic culture in the home. Thes couples will be introduced by Reyes as if in a talk show format.
“[Each] family is going to come up one at a time and share a little bit about themselves, their journeys, and the culture they are trying to instill, [which] they are basing off the three cardinal virtues of faith, hope, and love.
“They Flynns, they have seven kids and they are going to talk about hope,” he said. “The mom, Michelle, she prayed the rosary every day …and each day was for a different child. So they had the faith and the hope that their families stayed united … and the other hope of the rosary is that God remains in their lives.”
Winston Churchill, in a speech before the House of Commons on October 22, 1945, said that “the inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings, the inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal […]
There are two “laws” about the papacy that have always intrigued me, and both of them popped up in the news recently. Both of them have long ensured that the history of the papacy is […]
CNA Staff, Aug 17, 2020 / 04:20 pm (CNA).- Cardinal George Pell, who was acquitted this year after becoming the highest-ranking Catholic cleric ever to be convicted of sexual abuse, spoke this week about how he maintained hope during his 400 days in prison.
“The virtue of Christian hope is different than Christian optimism. No matter what your circumstances are in this life, eventually all will be well. A good God is in charge, even though terrible things happen,” Pell, 79, said in an interview aired Aug. 16.
Pell was initially convicted in Australia in 2018 of multiple counts of sexual abuse. On April 7, 2020, Australia’s High Court overturned his six-year prison sentence. The High Court ruled that he should not have been found guilty of the charges and that the prosecution had not proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Pell spent 13 months in solitary confinement, during which time he was not permitted to celebrate Mass.
The cardinal still faces a canonical investigation at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, though after his conviction was overturned, several canonical experts said it was unlikely he would actually face a Church trial.
Pell said despite the discomfort and humiliation of being in prison, he was often surprised by the decency and professionalism of the majority of the prison officers, who conversed with him and other men in solitary confinement.
Pell’s remarks were live-streamed as part of the 10th annual Napa Institute conference, held virtually this year Aug. 14-15.
“I knew intellectually, forensically, that my case was enormously strong,” he said, but added he was not “optimistic” in a human sense. His faith, and daily prayer, helped to keep him from despair and bitterness, he said.
Pell said he received about 4,000 letters while in prison. He rarely replied, except to letters from fellow prisoners. Many of his supporters wrote from the U.S.; a couple of women from Texas sent letters regularly, he said. Many of his supporters asked Pell to pray for them.
Pell said he would have, under normal circumstances, celebrated Mass for the many people who routinely asked for his prayers.
While in prison and forbidden from celebrating Mass, Pell said he would instead pray a Memorare to the Virgin Mary for the person’s intention immediately.
He said he also fostered his prayer life through praying the Divine Office, spiritual reading, and watching Mass every Sunday at 6 a.m. He said he would even watch Evangelical preachers from the U.S., such as Joel Olsteen, on television, and “make a theological critique of their efforts” in his journal.
Pell also wrote three pages a day in his journal. He said he had originally thought he might be in prison for three months, but it ended up being 13 months.
He said writing was good therapy, and that he hopes what he wrote might help others.
Ignatius Press plans to publish in Spring 2021 either an abridged version of Pell’s prison journal, which runs to 1,000 pages, or the first volume of the full text, the publisher said in June.
In terms of keeping up with goings-on in the outside world, Pell said he had a newspaper to read three times a week and would watch television for the national news. He said he closely followed the events surrounding Brexit, as well as the Amazon Synod, which took place at the Vatican during October 2019.
Pell said although he had some concerns about the synod while it was going on, “the results weren’t too bad.” Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on the Amazon— the final result of the synod— calls for women in the South American region to be included in new forms of service in the Church, but not within the ordained ministries of the permanent diaconate or priesthood.
“What gains there were— well, that’s for those who were present to say,” Pell said.
Supporters would also send him clippings and articles; he said they knew that news would provide some intellectual stimulation.
Another subject that Pell watched with keen interest from prison was the still-unfolding saga of financial scandal at the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, involving, among other things, a questionable deal to buy a struggling hospital in Italy, and another to invest in a luxury apartment complex in London.
Pell was appointed by Pope Francis as the first head of the Prefecture for the Economy in the Vatican, charged with overseeing and reforming Vatican finances. As CNA reported, he had objected to the loan request to purchase the bankrupt hospital, but his concerns were overruled.
Pell’s term as head of the prefecture officially ended in 2019, but he took a leave of absence from the role in 2017 in order to travel back to Australia to face the charges of sexual abuse.
He said it has been the case for some time that the Vatican loses money every year. In 2018, the Holy See had a budget deficit of 70 million euros in its 300 million euro budget.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made the situation all the worse, Pell noted. In particular, the Vatican Museums have suffered a steep decline in revenue from the lack of visitors.
Pell noted that the Vatican has a patrimony— or church endowment— to draw on, which is probably less than many major universities, but nevertheless can offer some relief in the short term.
“It’s a little bit graphic to say the Vatican is going broke. It isn’t,” he said.
“But they can’t keep losing money at the rate they are forever…In the published sense, I haven’t seen any suggestions that would really address what is a significant financial challenge, if not a radical one.”
It is also public knowledge, Pell said, that the Vatican has a “very looming and considerable” deficit in its pension fund, as do many countries in Europe.
Inefficiency and corruption have hurt the Vatican for years, he said, citing the recent London property scandal as an example of a situation that typifies both.
The Church is not a business, he stressed; those in leadership roles in the Church must be very strong and vigilant against corruption.
Still, he expressed some optimism that the Vatican’s Council for the Economy— to which Pope Francis appointed 13 new members, including six women, in April— will be successful in rooting out corruption by taking a “firm stand on the basic issues.”
“Most if not all of the crooks are out of the system,” he opined.
Pell said the Christian concept of redemptive suffering was a great comfort to him while enduring the humiliation, quiet, and boredom of prison.
“I was quite confident that my small sufferings— and they weren’t enormous— were something that could be offered, with Christ’s suffering, for the good of the Church,” he said.
“I knew I was innocent, I knew logically and forensically that I had a very strong case, that I would be vindicated. But in a spectacular failure, the most senior judges in Victoria were unable to see that.”
Pell acknowledged that the Church in many parts of the world is under tremendous pressure, in Australia most of all, in his mind, from anti-Catholicism.
In 2017, Australia’s Royal Commission released a report on sexual abuse of minors in the country, the result of a five-year enquiry into the behavior and responsibility of institutions including the Church, with redacted portions relating to Cardinal Pell released in May 2020.
In the newly available material, the commission said that Pell knew about the abusive activities of two priests during his own years as a priest, and that he failed to act to stop them, which Pell has since denied.
Pell said the scandal of pedophilia, and the very real crimes committed by some in the Church, are making it even harder for the Church to proclaim the Gospel message.
“There is no getting away from the crimes that were committed. Those were infamous. Nor were they dealt with well. But in Australia, we broke the back of the offending in the early ‘90s. This was even acknowledged by the council assisting in the Royal Commission,” Pell said.
The Commission did not explain to people that the Church had acted “resolutely and effectively” to impede the plague of abuse starting in the mid-90s, Pell opined. He said it is clear from statistics that very few offenses have occurred in Catholic institutions “this century” in Australia.
Pell sought to remind the U.S. Catholics that the Church in the U.S. is, for the whole Western world, “vitally important for us in smaller countries.”
Though the U.S., like many places, has had problems and scandals, including with leadership, Pell said it is important for smaller countries to rely on the U.S. Catholic Church for leadership, scholarship, and pastoral methods.
He mentioned Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and the late Cardinal Francis George of Chicago as, in his mind, particularly outstanding Church leaders.
“The irony of it is— and it’s demonstrated in the liberal Protestant world, it’s demonstrated in the Catholic world, in Belgium, Holland, Quebec and to some extent in Switzerland and Austria— the more you adapt to the world the faster the Catholic Church goes out of business.”
Still, Pell said he believes that if the Church remains true to Christ, and the teachings of the Gospel, new leaders and renewal movements will come along, as they did in the times of the Benedictines, Franciscans, and Jesuits.
“Adversity is not necessarily bad for the Church. Adversity can bring the best out of us,” he said.
CNA Staff, Aug 17, 2020 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- A new Pew Research poll shows white and Hispanic Catholics split over who they will vote for in the 2020 presidential elections.
According to a survey of 11,001 American adults conducted in July and Aug… […]
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 17, 2020 / 03:30 pm (CNA).- As the Democratic National Convention kicked off on Monday, pro-life Democrats urged their party to adopt a “whole-life” approach that supports people of all ages and races.
Democr… […]
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