Bishop Tomas Tobin of Providence on Thursday lambasted a local congressman’s newspaper editorial which explains his support for federally codifying abortion rights, despite his Catholic faith and professed personal pro-life views.
“We are so tired of hearing Catholic politicians say, as Jim Langevin does, ‘Although I remain personally opposed to abortion . . .’ and then go on to support abortion,” Bishop Tobin wrote in a Sept. 9 statement. “That pathetic excuse doesn’t fly anymore.”
A Sept. 9 column in the Providence Journal by Rep. James Langevin, a Democrat who represents Rhode Island’s second congressional district, explains how his position on legalized abortion has “evolved.” He says his increased support for abortion rights is the reason he will be voting for the Women’s Health Protection Act when he arrives in Washington D.C. in the coming weeks.
“Although I remain personally opposed to abortion, as a matter of public policy, my position has evolved,” Langevin wrote. “I will join as a co-sponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act. And when I return to Washington, D.C., in two weeks, I will vote to codify the protections afforded by Roe into federal law.”
The Women’s Health Protection Act would grant women the right to undergo an abortion, and health care workers the right to perform an abortion. It would prohibit states from restricting abortions through laws requiring mandatory ultrasounds or waiting periods before an abortion. It would also block restrictions on pre-viability abortions and on the method of abortions.
The bill would eliminate the possibility for pro-life riders like the Hyde Amendment, which have protected Americans from paying for abortions with their tax dollars.
Abortion activist politicians have introduced the bill multiple times since 2013, but have had no success in passage. The bill has 48 co-sponsors in the Senate and 205 in the House.
Bishop Tobin said that “although Congressman Langevin had previously attempted to nuance his pro-life position, his new statement on behalf of the ‘Women’s Health Protection Act’ removes any doubt about where he stands and is terribly disappointing.”
In his column, Langevin criticized Republicans for claiming to be pro-life while “consistently vote against policies that help millions of kids and families across our country.”
The congressman explained how he has fought to expand access to healthcare and protect the social safety net, as well as “championed initiatives to ensure every child can find their forever home with a safe and loving family.”
He added that he hopes the policies he fought for would continue, but “cannot, in good conscience, sit idly by as the right-wing legislators of Texas — and a soon to be bevy of copycat states — take our country in a very dangerous direction.”
“Nor can I cast a vote against a policy that the people of Rhode Island have already seen fit to enshrine in our state law,” he said.
The congressman said he is “deeply alarmed by the direction the Republican Party and the right-wing Supreme Court are headed,” adding that he believes “the consequences will be disastrous, and the already fraying fabric of our nation will tear even further.”
Bishop Tobin said Langevin’s decision to “reconsider” his position on abortion shows he has joined the “partisan pro-abortion bandwagon.”
“Jim Langevin claims to be a ‘practicing Catholic,’” Bishop Tobin wrote, “but practicing Catholics do not promote the legalization of abortion which the Church clearly teaches is an ‘abominable crime.’”
Bishop Tobin concluded by acknowledging the obligation to speak the truth: “that every time an abortion takes place, a child dies.”
“Sadly,” he said, “that reality will now be on the heart and soul and conscience of Jim Langevin.”
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Seminarians at Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Nigeria’s Kaduna state where four students were kidnapped and one, Michael Nnadi, was killed in 2020. / Credit: Good Shepherd Major Seminary Kaduna/ Facebook
ACI Africa, Jan 26, 2024 / 11:40 am (CNA).
Last year, 2023, was a difficult year for Brother Peter Olarewaju, a postulant at the Benedictine monastery in Nigeria’s Ilorin Diocese who was kidnapped alongside two others at the monastery. Olarewaju underwent different kinds of torture and witnessed the murder of his companion, Brother Godwin Eze.
After his release, Olarewaju said his kidnapping was a blessing, as it had strengthened his faith. He even said that he is now prepared to die for his faith.
“I am prepared to die a martyr in this dangerous country. I am ready any moment to die for Jesus. I feel this very strongly,” Olarewaju said in an interview with ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, on Nov. 26, 2023, days after he was set free by suspected Fulani kidnappers.
The late Brother Godwin Eze who was kidnapped from the Benedictine monastery in Nigeria’s Ilorin Diocese and murdered by his kidnappers in October 2023. Credit: Benedictine monastery, Eruku
The monk’s testimony is not an isolated case in Nigeria, where kidnapping from seminaries, monasteries, and other places of religious formation has been on the rise. While some victims of the kidnappings have been killed, those who survived the ordeal have shared that they have come back stronger — and ready to die for their faith.
Seminarian Melchior Maharini, a Tanzanian who was kidnapped alongside a priest from the Missionaries of Africa community in the Diocese of Minna in August 2023, said the suffering he endured during the three weeks he was held captive strengthened his faith. “I felt my faith grow stronger. I accepted my situation and surrendered everything to God,” he told ACI Africa on Sept. 1, 2023.
Father Paul Sanogo (left) and Seminarian Melchior Maharini (right) were kidnapped from their community of Missionaries of Africa in Nigeria’s Diocese of Minna. Credit: Vatican Media
Many other seminarians in Nigeria have been kidnapped by Boko Haram militants, Fulani herdsmen, and other bandit groups operating in Africa’s most populous nation.
In August 2023, seminarian David Igba told ACI Africa that he stared death in the face when a car in which he was traveling on his way to the market in Makurdi was sprayed with bullets by Fulani herdsmen.
Seminarian Na’aman Danlami died when the Fulanis attacked St. Raphael Fadan Kamantan Parish on the night of Sept. 7, 2023. Credit: Photo courtesy of Aid to the Church in Need
In September 2023, seminarian Na’aman Danlami was burned alive in a botched kidnapping incident in the Diocese of Kafanchan. A few days earlier, another seminarian, Ezekiel Nuhu, from the Archdiocese of Abuja, who had gone to spend his holidays in Southern Kaduna, was kidnapped.
Two years prior, in October 2021, Christ the King Major Seminary of Kafanchan Diocese was attacked and three seminarians were kidnapped.
Seminarian David Igba during a pastoral visit at Scared Heart Udei of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi. Credit: David Igba
In one attack that attracted global condemnation in 2020, seminarian Michael Nnadi was brutally murdered after he was kidnapped alongside three others from Good Shepherd Major Seminary in the Diocese of Kaduna. Those behind the kidnapping confessed that they killed Nnadi because he would not stop preaching to them, fearlessly calling them to conversion.
After Nnadi’s murder, his companions who survived the kidnapping proceeded to St. Augustine Major Seminary in Jos in Nigeria’s Plateau state, where they courageously continued with their formation.
The tomb of seminarian Michael Nnadi, who was brutally murdered after he was kidnapped alongside three others from the Good Shepherd Major Seminary in the Catholic Diocese of Kaduna in 2020. Credit: Father Samuel Kanta Sakaba, rector of a Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Kaduna
As Christian persecution rages in Nigeria, seminary instructors in the country have shared with ACI Africa that there is an emerging spirituality in Nigerian seminaries that many may find difficult to grasp: the spirituality of martyrdom.
They say that in Nigeria, those who embark on priestly formation are continuously being made to understand that their calling now entails being ready to defend the faith to the point of death. More than ever before, the seminarians are being reminded that they should be ready to face persecution, including the possibility of being kidnapped and even killed.
Father Peter Hassan, rector of St. Augustine Major Seminary in the Archdiocese of Jos, Plateau state, said that seminaries, just like the wider Nigerian society, have come to terms with “the imminence of death” for being Christian.
Father Peter Hassan, rector of St. Augustine Major Seminary in Jos, Nigeria, walks with an unnamed companion. Credit: Father Peter Hassan
“Nigerian Christians have been victims of violence of apocalyptic proportions for nearly half a century. I can say that we have learned to accept the reality of imminent death,” Hassan said in a Jan. 12 interview with ACI Africa.
He added: “Nevertheless, it is quite inspiring and comforting to see the many young men who are still ready to embrace a life that will certainly turn them into critically endangered species. Yet these same young men are willing to preach the gospel of peace and embrace the culture of dialogue for peaceful coexistence.”
Shortly after Nnadi’s kidnapping and killing, St. Augustine Major Seminary opened its doors to the three seminarians who survived the kidnapping.
Hassan told ACI Africa that the presence of the three former students of Good Shepherd Major Seminary was “a blessing” to the community of St. Augustine Major Seminary.
“Their presence in our seminary was a blessing to our seminarians, a wake-up call to the grim reality that not even the very young are spared by those mindless murderers,” Hassan said.
Back at Good Shepherd, seminarians have remained resilient, enrolling in large numbers even after the 2020 kidnapping and Nnadi’s murder.
Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Kaduna, Nigeria. Credit: Father Samuel Kanta Sakaba, rector of a Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Kaduna
In an interview with ACI Africa, Father Samuel Kanta Sakaba, the rector of Good Shepherd Major Seminary, said that instructors at the Catholic institution, which has a current enrollment of 265 seminarians, make it clear that being a priest in Nigeria presents the seminarians with the danger of being kidnapped or killed.
ACI Africa asked Sakaba whether or not the instructors discuss with the seminarians the risks they face, including that of being kidnapped, or even killed, to which the priest responded: “Yes, as formators, we have the duty to take our seminarians through practical experiences — both academic, spiritual, and physical experiences. We share this reality of persecution with them, but for them to understand, we connect the reality of Christian persecution in Nigeria to the experiences of Jesus. This way, we feel that it would be easier for them to not only have the strength to face what they are facing but to also see meaning in their suffering.”
“Suffering is only meaningful if it is linked with the pain of Jesus,” the priest said. “The prophet Isaiah reminds us that ‘by his wounds, we are healed.’ Jesus also teaches us that unless the grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it will remain a single grain, but that it is only when it falls and dies that it yields a rich harvest. Teachings such as these are the ones that deepen our resilience in the face of persecution.”
Seminarians and their instructors at St. Augustine Major Seminary in Jos, Nigeria. Credit: Father Peter Hassan
Sakaba spoke of the joy of those who look forward to “going back to God in a holy way.”
“Whatever happens, we will all go back to God. How joyful it is to go back to God in a holy way, in a way of sacrifice.” he said. “This holiness is accepting this cross, this pain. Jesus accepted the pain of Calvary, and that led him to his resurrection. Persecution purifies the individual for them to become the finished product for God. I believe that these attacks are God’s project, and no human being can stop God’s work.”
However, the rector clarified that those who enroll at the seminary do not go out seeking danger.
“People here don’t go out putting themselves in situations of risk,” he said. “But when situations such as these happen, the teachings of Jesus and his persecution give us courage to face whatever may come our way.”
Sakaba said that although priestly formation in Nigeria is embracing the “spirituality of martyrdom,” persecution in the West African country presents “a difficult reality.”
“It is difficult to get used to pain. It is difficult to get used to the issues of death … to get familiar with death,” he said. “No one chooses to go into danger just because other people are suffering; it is not part of our nature. But in a situation where you seem not to have an alternative, the grace of God kicks in to strengthen you to face the particular situation.”
Sakaba said that since the 2020 attack at Good Shepherd Major Seminary, the institution has had an air of uncertainty. He said that some of the kidnappers who were arrested in the incident have been released, a situation he said has plunged the major seminary into “fear of the unknown.”
“It hasn’t been easy for us since the release,” Sabaka told ACI Africa. “The community was thrown into confusion because of the unknown. We don’t know what will happen next. We don’t know when they will come next or what they will do to us. We don’t know who will be taken next.”
Seminarians at St. Augustine Major Seminary in Jos, Plateau state, Nigeria, during a Marian procession. Credit: Father Peter Hassan
In the face of that, however, Sabaka said the resilience of the seminary community has been admirable. “God has been supporting, encouraging, and leading us. His grace assisted us to continue to practice our faith,” he said.
The jihadist attacks, which continue unabated in communities surrounding the seminary, do not make the situation easier.
Church at the Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Kaduna, Nigeria. Credit: Father Samuel Kanta Sakaba, rector of Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Kaduna
“Every attack that happens outside our community reminds us of our own 2020 experience. We are shocked, and although we remain deeply wounded, we believe that God has been leading us,” he said.
This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.
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7 Comments
Stop being disappointed. Start expelling them. Do something besides wringing your hands and talking about how unfortunate it is. Do something.
G Poulin is right, start kicking them out. I’m fed up with the roundabout declaration of words of accompiment! The example of San Francisco is prime amongst these waverers. If he can do an exorcism over statue violation, surely excommunications aren’t astro physics!!!!?????
Good words from this bishop. But we have all heard these words before, Bishop Tobin, for decades.
Please ‘do’ something to show your words have some kind of strength. Otherwise, Langevin will continue to laugh at the impotent Church. Bet on it.
The problem with the “personally opposed, but” type of politicians is they dont make ANY effort to restrict abortion to in any way at all. Not in the smnallest way. They just jump in the pool across the board with unrestricted pro abortion advocates. What is the motivation behind third trimester abortions? That the mother couldnt make up her mind for 6 months? If so, I say, tough. Why should anyone at all be permitted an abortion a week before giving birth? The whole picture is beyond grotesque and inhuman. There are PLENTY of American couples dying to adopt who would be glad to take on these so-called “unwanted ” babies. Many people would have some sympathy for a woman carrying a child that was the product of rape or incest and would be less opposed to abortion in those rare instances, as the lesser of two evils. But it appears that the “opposed, but” types want as much unlimited abortion as do the pro-abortion legislators. The biggest lie is that this is a womans “health care issue”. Nothing could be further from the truth. Pregnancy is not a disease to be cured. Trying to present it that way is an outright lie. I agree that it is past time for the church to start expelling “Catholics” who publicly support unrestricted abortion. Abortion advocates have made their position clear. So should the church.
Just maybe Bishop Tomas Tobin of Providence needs a shot in the arm called,
“Spades”
Here’s an example:
” As Bishop of Providence, R.I. I am deeply grieved that Congressman James Langevin, a member of my dear flock would LEND HIMSELF to the GRAVE EVIL of attacking the right of pre-born human children to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
For Congressman James Langevin to say publicly that he is personally opposed to abortion, then by saying, as this article states, “his increased support for abortion rights is the reason he will be voting for the Women’s Health Protection Act when he arrives in Washington D.C. in the coming weeks,” is coopering with evil in the most heinous manner.
As Congressman James Langevin’s Bishop, I will inform him in writing that because he has publicly and unequivocally stated that he will be party to continuing the enshrinement of abortion on demand, I, as his bishop will enforce Canon Law, as is my duty. I will inform him unless he repents, he has clearly separated himself from the flock and I will instruct the priests of my diocese to deny him the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Charity and solicitude for the salvation of Congressman James Langevin’s soul is my utmost concern and responsibility.
Stop being disappointed. Start expelling them. Do something besides wringing your hands and talking about how unfortunate it is. Do something.
Amen. But would the Vatican slap him down if he took any action? Of course it would. It does not matter, he should do it anyway.
Right-wing Supreme Court. Right-wing Texas legislators. This smear is getting tiresome.
G Poulin is right, start kicking them out. I’m fed up with the roundabout declaration of words of accompiment! The example of San Francisco is prime amongst these waverers. If he can do an exorcism over statue violation, surely excommunications aren’t astro physics!!!!?????
Good words from this bishop. But we have all heard these words before, Bishop Tobin, for decades.
Please ‘do’ something to show your words have some kind of strength. Otherwise, Langevin will continue to laugh at the impotent Church. Bet on it.
The problem with the “personally opposed, but” type of politicians is they dont make ANY effort to restrict abortion to in any way at all. Not in the smnallest way. They just jump in the pool across the board with unrestricted pro abortion advocates. What is the motivation behind third trimester abortions? That the mother couldnt make up her mind for 6 months? If so, I say, tough. Why should anyone at all be permitted an abortion a week before giving birth? The whole picture is beyond grotesque and inhuman. There are PLENTY of American couples dying to adopt who would be glad to take on these so-called “unwanted ” babies. Many people would have some sympathy for a woman carrying a child that was the product of rape or incest and would be less opposed to abortion in those rare instances, as the lesser of two evils. But it appears that the “opposed, but” types want as much unlimited abortion as do the pro-abortion legislators. The biggest lie is that this is a womans “health care issue”. Nothing could be further from the truth. Pregnancy is not a disease to be cured. Trying to present it that way is an outright lie. I agree that it is past time for the church to start expelling “Catholics” who publicly support unrestricted abortion. Abortion advocates have made their position clear. So should the church.
Just maybe Bishop Tomas Tobin of Providence needs a shot in the arm called,
“Spades”
Here’s an example:
” As Bishop of Providence, R.I. I am deeply grieved that Congressman James Langevin, a member of my dear flock would LEND HIMSELF to the GRAVE EVIL of attacking the right of pre-born human children to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
For Congressman James Langevin to say publicly that he is personally opposed to abortion, then by saying, as this article states, “his increased support for abortion rights is the reason he will be voting for the Women’s Health Protection Act when he arrives in Washington D.C. in the coming weeks,” is coopering with evil in the most heinous manner.
As Congressman James Langevin’s Bishop, I will inform him in writing that because he has publicly and unequivocally stated that he will be party to continuing the enshrinement of abortion on demand, I, as his bishop will enforce Canon Law, as is my duty. I will inform him unless he repents, he has clearly separated himself from the flock and I will instruct the priests of my diocese to deny him the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Charity and solicitude for the salvation of Congressman James Langevin’s soul is my utmost concern and responsibility.