Pro-life and abortion rights activists protest during the 50th annual March for Life rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 20, 2023, in Washington, D.C. / Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 23, 2023 / 14:15 pm (CNA).
The 2023 March for Life, which saw tens of thousands of pro-life activists march to the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, only faced a handful of disruptions from a very small number of pro-abortion counterprotesters.
Although some had speculated that the pro-abortion presence might be larger this year because it was the first march since the overturning of Roe V. Wade, only about a dozen pro-abortion protesters stood in front of the U.S. Supreme Court and only a few others were scattered within the march and on the outskirts of the march.
Despite the low turnout, some of the counterprotesters did manage to cause disruptions and a few had verbal clashes with pro-life activists. Pro-abortion activists briefly interrupted two pre-march events: a prayer service organized by Priests for Life at DAR Constitution Hall and a moment of silence in front of the Washington, D.C., Planned Parenthood clinic.
During the prayer service, a handful of pro-abortion protesters stood up and interrupted while the group was trying to pray. One man shouted “abortion is forever; protect trans lives” and “my body; my choice” before walking out of the event. Another man yelled “this community supports abortion access” before being escorted out of the event.
Another man interrupted a moment of silence held in front of Planned Parenthood by repeatedly chanting “thank God for abortion” into a megaphone. The same man yelled at groups of protesters through a megaphone as they were walking toward the march, accusing pro-life activists of being fascists. A woman with him chanted “keep your religion off my vagina” while the man danced in a crosswalk and yelled at other activists. The woman later blasphemed Christ repeatedly.
When activists gathered in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building, some protesters used megaphones to amplify siren sounds in an apparent attempt to disrupt conversations and speeches. One woman who held a sign that said “America is not a Christian nation” shouted profanities at pro-life activists before chanting “thank God for abortion.”
In a few instances, pro-life activists and pro-abortion counterprotesters tried to cover up each other’s signs with their own. In one case, this led to minor shoving, but Catholic News Agency did not witness any fights break out.
The Metropolitan Police Department told Catholic News Agency that there were no arrests made in connection to the March for Life.
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At the opening reception for the Ricci Center’s “On The Road” exhibit in the School of Theology and Ministry Library was held in June 2023. / Credit: Lee Pellegrini
Boston, Mass., Sep 24, 2023 / 09:00 am (CNA).
An exhibition of powerful images documenting the lives of Catholics in rural China is now on view at Boston College, presented by the college’s Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History.
“On the Road: The Catholic Faith in China”— which has been extended through Dec. 22 — comprises 60 images taken between 1992 and 1996, when world-renowned photographer Lü Nan traveled on the road through 10 Chinese provinces to document the lives of Catholic villagers. Fifty images are on view at the School of Theology and Ministry (STM) Library Atrium; 10 are displayed at the O’Neill Library Gallery.
One of the most respected photographers in China today, Lü is considered unrivaled in his capacity to capture and reveal human dignity and the poignancy of the human condition, according to exhibition organizers.
“Lü Nan’s corpus of work is very striking,” said Ricci Institute Director M. Antoni J. Ucerler, SJ, a provost’s fellow and associate professor of history. “His focus, with this project and others, is to explore minorities and communities on the margins of Chinese society. Christians in general and Catholics in particular in remote rural areas, from Yunnan to Tibet, are the focus of this collection of photographs.”
Ricci Institute Director M. Antoni J. Ucerler, SJ. Credit: Photo courtesy of University of San Francisco
Given that the exhibition subject is Christians in China, the Ricci Institute partnered with STM as its primary venue, Ucerler explained, and three STM students co-curated “On the Road.”
Amid the economic and social complexities of the time, “Lü witnessed nothing short of a miracle,” the curators note in an exhibition description: “people of deep faith, despite constant strife in everyday life, on the road to heaven.” This collection — arranged in five categories that depict different aspects of the life and faith of the people he encountered — is his “attempt to convey to the world the miracle he witnessed.”
The Ricci Institute, an internationally recognized research center for the study of Chinese-Western cultural exchange, collaborated on the Boston College display with Michael Agliardo, SJ, director of the U.S.-China Catholic Association in Berkeley, California, and Jamason Chen at Loyola University Chicago. Chen, who often represents and speaks on behalf of his friend Lü, will appear on campus this fall, at a date to be announced, to discuss the exhibition.
“The visual exploration of the profoundly human experiences of these Christian communities in rural China is very specific in terms of time and place. And yet these stark photographs speak eloquently of a common human condition and of the reality of a lived faith across cultures and borders,” Ucerler said.
He described each photograph as “a mini-meditation that invites the viewer to become attentive to and respectful of the message that it is conveying. Each image reveals the complex reality of the Christian faith well beyond the familiar confines of the Western world, while at the same time appealing to universal themes that are part of a shared humanity.”
Following a five-year affiliation with China Pictorial, Lü worked as an independent photographer and produced a trilogy of acclaimed works that made his international reputation. The second comprises the works in this exhibition; many of them have been displayed around the world and have been published in the book “On the Road”(Ignatius Press, 2021). Agliardo assisted Lü in its publication and wrote an afterword to the volume.
“During the period when Lü Nan shot ‘On the Road,’ he visited over 100 church buildings. However, the emphasis of his photographic journey is on how love and faith are practiced in the everyday life of the believers,” according to a description of the book. “His aim is to show that inner divinity is imbued in the everyday life of these believers, and that their time on earth is but a tempering trajectory: Through enduring the trials of life’s fortunes and mishaps, they are able to find true values in divine grace.”
At a campus opening event held last month, Ucerler said a theme that stands out for him is “transcendent hope through a deep faith in the midst of vulnerability.” The co-curators echoed that observation and shared their personal experiences of interacting with the work of the artist. Their reflections and thoughts on the exhibition all underscored the deep faith and hope of those portrayed by the photographer.
“On the Road: The Catholic Faith in China” exhibit runs through Dec. 22, 2023, at Boston College, presented by the University’s Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History. Photo credit: Lee Pellegrini
“The images depicted might be considered austere, showing poverty and suffering,” said co-curator Wen Jie Gerald Lee, MATM/MBA ’23, of Singapore. “But they communicate profound joy, contentment, peace, and purpose in spite of harsh living conditions.”
Ricci Institute intern and co-curator Zhangzhen Liang MTS ‘23 — who was a young girl when Lü visited her Chinese village for this series — hopes “the perseverance and faith expressed in these photos will empower all of us to move forward together, to live a rich and thriving life, and encourage us to become the light of the world.”
Doctoral student and co-curator Shinjae Lee ‘27, whose family moved from China to South Korea, concluded with a quote from Lü: “I hope that by looking into real life I find something fundamentally and enduringly human.”
The curators, who wrote the accompanying wall text, encourage exhibition visitors to record their reactions to these evocative images, by scanning a QR code available as part of the installation. These responses will be shared with other patrons.
“We sincerely hope that those who view this exhibit will experience a common bond with those who are depicted,” Ucerler said, “and allow themselves to be transported to these faraway communities so that they can learn something from their visual witness.”
According to organizers, in addition to Chen’s appearance, other events will be held in conjunction with the exhibition, and the “On the Road” volume is available at a discounted price.
“On the Road: The Catholic Faith in China” is co-sponsored by the Ricci Institute and Boston College Libraries, with funding from the EDS-Stewart Endowment for the Study of Chinese-Western Cultural History at the Ricci Institute.
President’s Hall, Seton Hall University. / Credit: Wikimedia/cc by sa 3.0
CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).
A Catholic university in New Jersey returned to its historic tradition of naming a “priest-president” following the previous president’s abrupt resignation and lawsuit against the school.
Seton Hall University, one of the oldest diocesan-run universities in the nation, on April 2 announced Monsignor Joseph Reilly as the 22nd president of the university. Reilly is an alumnus of the university and the current vice provost of academics and Catholic identity.
The 168-year-old university had a “priest-president” for 146 years of its history, and Reilly’s appointment marks a “return” to the tradition, the university press release noted.
Reilly will take over from interim president Katia Passerini, who took up the role after former Seton Hall president Joseph Nyre’s resignation in July 2023.
Nyre and his wife, Kelli, filed a lawsuit alleging that the former chairman of the university’s board of regents, Kevin Marino, had intimidated Nyre and sexually harassed his wife by kissing and touching her.
The suit alleged that the university violated New Jersey’s Conscientious Employee Protection Act. Nyre also alleged that Seton Hall engaged in discrimination and retaliation, and breach of the separation and general release agreement.
Laurie Pine, a spokeswoman for the school, said the allegations were “completely without merit” in a February statement.
An independent financial review uncovered a series of embezzlement schemes by a “small number of trusted, longtime employees of Seton Hall Law,” Marino and Nyre announced in a joint email to the university in December 2022.
The university, which is home to Immaculate Conception Seminary and St. Andrew’s Hall seminary, also suffered under the leadership of the disgraced former cardinal and former archbishop of Newark Theodore McCarrick.
McCarrick “used his position of power as then-archbishop of Newark to sexually harass seminarians,” according to a university statement in 2019.
Seton Hall has about 10,000 students, including 6,000 undergraduates. Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark and chair of the board of trustees, and president of the board of regents, said in an April 2 statement that he is “confident” that Reilly will be “an outstanding president.”
“In my service with Monsignor Reilly on the board of trustees, he impressed me with his abiding faith, keen intellect, and genuine care for the entire university,” he said.
The current chair of the board of regents and the presidential search committee, Hank D’Alessandro, said that Reilly “was the ideal choice.”
“He possesses a deep faith in God and a demonstrable commitment to nurturing our students to greatness as we advance among the nation’s foremost Catholic universities,” D’Alessandro said in the statement.
“There is no one better suited to leading the university at this moment — a time when Seton Hall stands at the cusp of extraordinary progress,” he said.
Reilly attended Seton Hall Prep and graduated from Seton Hall University in 1987. After he was ordained a priest in 1991, he returned as rector of the college seminary in 2002.
Reilly served as dean of the Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology from 2012 to 2022 and most recently served as vice provost of academics and Catholic identity.
Reilly said he is both “profoundly grateful” and “exceedingly energized” to take on the role.
“Seton Hall is the place where I have come to know the truth about God, about who I am before God, and about what contribution to society that God is inviting me to make,” he said.
In 2005, St. John Paul II named Reilly as a chaplain to his holiness, and in 2015 Pope Francis appointed him as a missionary of mercy.
Reilly has a bachelor’s degree in sacred theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, a licentiate in sacred theology from Pontificio Istituto Teresianum in Rome, and a doctorate in educational administration from Fordham University.
Reilly also served on the Faithful Citizenship Strategy Committee and the Catholic Social Teaching Task Force for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“I cannot wait to engage our community as together we strive to bring new life to the timeless Catholic mission that makes Seton Hall unique among American universities,” Reilly said.
CNA Staff, Sep 17, 2020 / 03:25 pm (CNA).- The archbishop of San Francisco penned an op-ed in the Washington Post this week citing the First Amendment as he called for city officials to relax the current restrictions on public worship, which are some o… […]
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