Vatican City, Jan 22, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis has written the preface to a biography of a human trafficking victim in which he decries the men who sustain the “reprehensible” trade by their choices.
Human trafficking is e… […]
CNA Staff, Jan 22, 2021 / 03:10 am (CNA).- An English Catholic bishop welcomed on Thursday a step forward in the sainthood cause of a religious sister who served poor communities ravaged by cholera and typhoid.
Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury said on Jan. 21 that it was fitting that Elizabeth Prout’s cause was progressing amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The bishop made the comment on the day that Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtues of the nun known as the “Mother Teresa of Manchester,” meaning that she can now be called “Venerable.”
“It seems appropriate this announcement came during the pandemic when we can look to Elizabeth’s example and ask the help of her prayers as a woman who helped many during the epidemics which swept the industrial communities of Victorian England,” Davies said.
The bishop had appealed for prayers for the advancement of Prout’s cause at a Mass last September, marking the 200th anniversary of her birth.
He recalled that Prout, who was born on Sept. 2, 1820, was “a pioneer of education,” who established day and night schools for the industrial poor and homes of refuge for young women working in factories.
“Together with a handful of companions she confronted the most degrading situations with the confidence of the revolution which flows from Christ’s command: ‘Love one another as I have loved you,’” he said.
Prout was baptized in the Anglican Church. Her father, a lapsed Catholic, worked as a cooper for a local brewery. Her parents disowned her when she decided to join the Catholic Church in her early 20s, at a time when Catholicism was emerging after centuries of persecution in England.
She converted with the help of Blessed Dominic Barberi, the Italian Passionist priest who also received St. John Henry Newman into the Catholic Church.
Prout became a nun at the age of 28, and, a few years after taking her final vows, was given a teaching post in industrial Manchester, where she worked among Irish migrants, women, and factory workers.
During her time as a teacher, Manchester was one of the world’s first industrial cities but workers toiled in abject conditions. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the authors of “The Communist Manifesto,” described working conditions as “hell upon earth.”
Prout founded a religious community inspired by the spirituality of St. Paul of the Cross, the Italian founder of the Passionists. The community was initially called the Institute of the Holy Family, but later renamed the Sisters of the Cross and Passion or Passionist Sisters.
The new institute was criticized for advocating “revolutionary ideas,” because it required religious sisters to earn their own wages to support themselves and taught other women to follow their example.
In 1863, Pope Leo XIII gave the community his approval. Prout, also known as Mother Mary Joseph, was named the order’s first superior general. Today, the Passionist Sisters work with the poor all over the world, including countries such as Papua New Guinea, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Jamaica.
Prout died from tuberculosis at the age of 43 in Sutton, Lancashire, in 1864. She was buried in the archdiocese of Liverpool, where her cause opened in 1994.
Archbishop Malcolm McMahon of Liverpool welcomed the recognition of Prout’s heroic virtues.
“Her contribution to the Church and people of England and further afield in the education and healthcare through the institutions she founded and the Sisters of the congregation continues to show the care of the Catholic Church for those in need,” he said.
Prout’s body was laid to rest in the shrine of St. Anne’s Church, Sutton, where it lies alongside those of Dominic Barberi and Ignatius Spencer, an aristocratic convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism who served as a Passionist priest.
“My prayer is that the shrine at Sutton will be a place of prayer for her eventual canonization,” McMahon said.
Prout’s sainthood cause was submitted to the Vatican in 2008. If she is beatified and canonized — which would require two verified miracles attributed to her intercession — she would be England’s first female saint who did not suffer martyrdom in almost 800 years.
The last non-martyr English female saint was St. Margaret of Scotland, an Anglo-Saxon princess who became Queen of Scotland after William the Conqueror invaded England. She was canonized in 1250.
Passionist Sister Dominic Savio Hamer, author of the book “Elizabeth Prout: A Religious Life for Industrial England,” said: “This is wonderful news for Congregation of the Sisters of the Cross and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“She loved Our Lord so much and also knew so much suffering in her own life and was conversant with the bad social conditions in which so many people lived in Manchester that she will be an ideal person to pray to in our difficulties today.”
CNA Staff, Jan 22, 2021 / 12:06 am (CNA).- As cases of assisted suicide continue to increase annually in Ontario, pro-life advocates have called on the government to implement laws to help stem the tide of medically facilitated death.
“The numbe… […]
Denver Newsroom, Jan 21, 2021 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- In one of his first acts in office, President Joe Biden has signed an executive order to interpret sex discrimination in federal law to include sexual orientation and gender identity. The move could impa… […]
CNA Staff, Jan 21, 2021 / 04:54 pm (CNA).- A Catholic priest in Burkina Faso who went missing Tuesday has been found dead in a forest, the local bishop announced Thursday.
“It is with deep sorrow that I bring to everyone’s attention that the lifeless body of Fr. Rodrigue Sanon was found on January 21, 2021 in the protected forest of Toumousseni, about 20 kilometres from Banfora,” Bishop Lucas Kalfa Sanou said in a statement, according to ACI Africa.
He called for prayers and said more information would be available at a later time.
“By the Mercy of God, may the soul of his servant Rodrigue Sanon rest in peace!” the bishop said.
Fr. Sanon, a priest of Notre Dame de Soubaganyedougou, disappeared Tuesday on his way to Banfora to meet with Bishop Sanou. The priest never arrived, and his car was found abandoned.
Over the last five years, Burkina Faso has been a hub for religious violence and Islamist militias, especially in the northeastern territories. The militants include the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, and Ansarul Islam.
According to a 2019 report from the U.S. State Department, 61% of Burkina Faso residents identify as Muslim and 23% identify as Christian.
The extremist attacks, which target both Christians and Muslims, have left over 1 million people displaced and almost 1,100 dead since 2015.
The bishops in Burkina Faso issued a statement in June, calling the situation “more worrying than ever.” They raised concerns about the increase in religious violence and called for more support from the authorities.
“The role of the Defense and Security Forces remains paramount,” said the bishops, adding that security forces in the country “must produce and guarantee a secure environment conducive to the conduct of the electoral process with the full participation of all citizens.”
In the June statement, the bishops said they are worried that the low levels of security are preventing priests from reaching their parishioners and asked the Blessed Mother to intercede for their efforts.
“For the Pastors in this part of Burkina Faso as elsewhere in the regions … it is a great suffering to no longer be able to reach the faithful in some places, or to see them fleeing from terrorist attacks without any guarantee of security,” they said.
“May Mary, Queen of Peace, accompany us on the path to true peace, a gift of God and the fruit of human efforts.”
Vatican City, Jan 21, 2021 / 04:49 pm (CNA).- Two Italian contemporaries, a young priest who resisted the Nazis and was shot dead, and a seminarian who died at age 15 from tuberculosis, are both closer to being declared saints.
Pope Francis advanced t… […]
Washington D.C., Jan 21, 2021 / 02:45 pm (CNA).- President Joe Biden’s nominee for Secretary of State agrees with his predecessor’s declaration that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is committing genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic a… […]
Washington D.C., Jan 21, 2021 / 02:34 pm (CNA).- A proposal made on the last day of the Trump administration would make religious businesses eligible to receive loans from the Small Business Administration, removing previous restrictions.
The U.S. Small Business Administration published a proposal Jan 19. that would remove five restrictions that “run afoul of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. All five provisions make certain faith-based organizations ineligible to participate in certain SBA business loan and disaster assistance programs because of their religious status,” the proposal’s summary states.
“Because the provisions exclude a class of potential participants based solely on their religious status, the provisions violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. SBA now proposes to remove the provisions to ensure in its business loan and disaster assistance programs the equal treatment for faith-based organizations that the Constitution requires,” the summary adds.
If passed, the proposal would allow religious businesses to qualify for SBA loans, though it is unclear if it would also allow churches and other houses of worship also to be eligible, the Washington Post reported.
The SBA proposal cites two Supreme Court cases as precedent for removing the religious exclusions from SBA loan qualification criteria.
In Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer the Supreme Court ruled that a playground resurfacing grant that excluded churches and religious organizations was unconstitutional. The court said the grant violated the Free Exercise Clause, which “`protect[s] religious observers against unequal treatment’ and subjects to the strictest scrutiny laws that target the religious for `special disabilities’ based on their `religious status.’ ”
In Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, the Supreme Court repealed a state court decision to block religious schools from a scholarship program. While the state argued that it had an interest in preventing the religious use of the funds, the Supreme Court ruled that “Status-based discrimination remains status based even if one of its goals or effects is preventing religious organizations from putting aid to religious uses.” The SBA also noted that its proposal also follows the 2017 executive order from President Trump entitled Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty. The order stated that “Federal law protects the freedom of Americans and their organizations to exercise religion and participate fully in civic life without undue interference by the Federal Government” and added that the executive branch would enforce such protections. Furthermore, the removal of religious restrictions also follows a decision by the Trump administration to allow religious organizations to apply for the Payment Protection Program, a coronavirus relief program that provided billions of dollars in pandemic relief to businesses and non-profits, including thousands of Catholic parishes, schools, and other religious organizations.
The proposal is likely to spark a heated debate about religious freedom under the Biden administration. While the Free Exercise Clause of First Amendment ensures the free practice of religion, the Establishment Clause prohibits the US Congress establishing a religion by law.
The SBA is collecting public comment on the proposal until Feb. 18. Afterward, the Washington Post reports, the determination of the proposal’s future falls to Biden-appointed administrator Isabel Guzman.
Rome Newsroom, Jan 21, 2021 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- As a self-proclaimed atheist in his early 20s, Private Dillon Beatson said that the only time he spoke of religion was with ridicule. But when his helicopter crashed during a training mission in the Middle… […]
Washington D.C., Jan 21, 2021 / 11:30 am (CNA).- The Biden administration will repeal the Mexico City Policy in the “coming days,” White House advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci told board members of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday, … […]
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