University of Iowa ‘targeted’ Christian group, lawyers argue

September 23, 2020 CNA Daily News 0

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 23, 2020 / 07:00 am (CNA).- Lawyers representing a Christian group kicked off of a college campus over its religious beliefs have said they are confident after making their case in court Tuesday. They argue that the University of Iowa targeted the group Business Leaders in Christ, and violated their own policies in doing so.

“The court had tough questions for both sides, but I feel optimistic that they saw the extreme nature of the conduct by the university officials in this case,” Attorney Eric Baxter of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty told CNA on Tuesday, September 22 following oral arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. 

Baxter is representing Business Leaders in Christ (BLinC), a group at the University of Iowa,

BLiNC hosted Christian business professionals on campus, and aims “to form future business leaders who will integrate their religious values such as integrity, service, and compassion into the workplace.” 

The group was removed from campus in 2017, when the organization posted a “statement of faith” on their website after they refused to allow an openly gay student a leadership position in the group. 

After the student filed a complaint against the group, “the university called BLinC to a meeting and said, ‘well, we really can’t tell you who to select as your leaders, but you ought to at least let students know what your beliefs are,’” Baxter explained to CNA. 

The University of Iowa did not require other groups to publish similar statements, but BLinC complied and put their statement of faith in the group’s constitution. The statement of faith upheld the Biblical definition of marriage, which the University of Iowa took as discrimination, leading to their removal from campus. BLinC filed suit against the university of Iowa following their removal.  

“The whole thing is ironic and really a ridiculous tale of how the university went out of its way to break its own rules to target this group,” said Baxter. Baxter noted that other student groups, including an LGBT-affirming business group, are permitted to require that their members or leaders adhere to a certain ideology. 

In the wake of BLinC’s lawsuit against the school, the University of Iowa placed every campus group with a religious affiliation on probation while the case was decided. 

In February 2019, the court ruled that BLinC, along with the 32 other religious groups on campus, were treated unequally by the school and must be treated the same as other student groups. 

“The Constitution does not tolerate the way [the university] chose to enforce the Human Rights Policy. Particularly when free speech is involved, the uneven application of any policy risks the most exacting standard of judicial scrutiny, which [the university] ha[s] failed to withstand,” said that ruling. 

The University of Iowa appealed that decision. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to issue a decision by the end of the year. 

“These students wanted to provide a space on campus where they could support one another in their faith. And instead they’ve spent three and a half years fighting the university just to be treated the same as every other group on campus,” said Baxter. 

“And that’s a travesty,” he added. “The University should be ashamed for treating them like second-class citizens.”


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Know some excellent parishes of the pandemic? There’s an award for that

September 23, 2020 CNA Daily News 0

Denver Newsroom, Sep 23, 2020 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Scot Landry has worked for the Catholic Church for years. So he knows that diocesan and parish offices typically hear very little about what they’re doing well, and a lot about what’s not going right.

“The ratio of compliments or gratitude or praise, to complaints…that ratio was in the complaint end of things, stronger than any other time of my life,” Landry told CNA, reflecting on his years working for the Archdiocese of Boston.

For years, Landry has wanted to do something to recognize parishes doing exemplary things, but it never seemed to be the right time.

This year, however, as a global pandemic shut down public Masses in many parts of the world, Landry said he watched parishes find new and creative ways to reach their flocks, and he wanted to celebrate that. That’s why Landry, in partnership with the Parish Excellence Summit and Good Catholic Leadership Group, created the first-ever Parish Excellence Awards.

“There was immediate mission-driven innovation related to continuing the parish’s sacramental and other ministries” in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Landry said in a release announcing the awards.

Catholics can nominate their parishes for excellence awards in a variety of categories, which aim to recognize things like technological excellence to parish outreach and re-opened Mass protocols. There are three “Broadcast Mass” categories alone.

“Most parishes have now turned into broadcasters,” Landry said, because of the temporary closure of public Masses throughout the United States this past spring.

Some parishes were “excellent on the technical side of things, and the broadcast is beautiful. Others were excellent at trying to maximize the number of parishioners who were watching the livestream. Others were good at solving the complexity of doing livestreams when they have a multilingual, multicultural community.”

The Parish Excellence Awards are similar to another national effort, by Mundelein Seminary, which earlier this month accepted nominations for “hero priests” of the pandemic, who went above and beyond to reach their flock in these unprecedented times.

Landry said while his idea wasn’t inspired by the “hero priest” awards, he was glad there are others who also wanted to recognize all that parishes have done for their people during this time.

“We do need to hold up people who are doing great work during the pandemic. I was glad to see that Mundelein was thinking of it,” Landry said.

Winners of the Parish Excellence Awards will be chosen by small committees of volunteers, Landry said, and will be announced at the Parish Excellence Summit, a virtual event held from Nov. 9-13. All who nominate their parish for an award will be invited to the Summit for free.

At the summit, Landry said he plans on presenting three awards each day, and showing video interviews with winners, who can give tips and pointers to other parishes wanting to model initiatives after ones that have been recognized for making a difference.

The summit will highlight the two reasons for the parish awards in the first place, Landry said, which is to recognize excellent parishes, and to pass on ideas for best practices to other parishes who are also striving for excellence.

“One of the ways to honor a parish that is innovative in a mission-driven way, is to learn from it,” Landry said. “Apply it to your own context and then help it to strengthen your own parish. We certainly hope…we wouldn’t be doing this if that wasn’t one of our big hopes at the end of it.”

Catholics can nominate parishes in 16 different categories through October 19.

And while the Parish Excellence Awards this year are specifically focused on innovation during the pandemic, Landry said he hopes the awards are something he can continue year after year.

“Winning people back after the pandemic, that could be a theme for next year,” he said. “As long as there’s a need to share what’s working in some parishes with all the other parishes in the church, at least in the United States, we certainly have an interest in doing it.”


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The medieval carpentry techniques used in Notre Dame cathedral rebuild

September 22, 2020 CNA Daily News 1

CNA Staff, Sep 23, 2020 / 12:00 am (CNA).- After fire toppled the iconic spire and destroyed the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France in April 2009, heated debates ensued about whether the reconstruction should use the church’s original design, or use a more modern design and technique.

Some proposed futuristic ideas included a rooftop swimming pool and a greenhouse atop the 850-year-old cathedral.

Last year, the French Senate passed a bill mandating that Notre-Dame be rebuilt as it was before the fire, with lumber and medieval carpentry techniques, which were highlighted in a public demonstration Saturday in the cathedral’s square.

“It shows…firstly that we made the right choice in choosing to rebuild the carpentry identically, in oak from France,” Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin, who heads the reconstruction efforts, told the AP.

“Secondly, it shows us the…method by which we will rebuild the framework, truss after truss.”

The public carpentry demonstration was held Sept. 19 as part of European Heritage Days. The triangular truss highlighted at the event was the seventh of a total of 25 new trusses that will be installed in the nave of the cathedral during the rebuild.

Carpenters told the AP that they selected a truss with a more complex design for the event. The truss, built in July, was raised from the ground for display at the event using a pulley system. Once raised, a celebratory oak branch was tied to the top, a traditional “symbol of prosperity and a salute to the workers,” according to the AP.

“It’s a moment to see ancestral techniques that last. There is the present and the past and it links us to our roots,” Romain Greif, an architect attending the event with his family told the AP.  “It’s an event.”

The trusses will be installed in the roof of the church at a yet unknown date. French president Emmanuel Macron has said he wants the reconstruction to be completed by 2024, when Paris is set to host the Olympics.

Last year on the evening of April 15, 2019, a major fire broke out at the cathedral, destroying the roof and the spire. Shortly after midnight April 16, firefighters announced that the cathedral’s main structure had been preserved from collapse.

The major religious and artistic treasures of the cathedral were removed as the fire began, including a relic of the crown of thorns.

Originally built between the twelfth through fourteenth centuries, the landmark cathedral in the French capital is one of the most recognizable churches in the world, receiving more than 12 million visitors each year.

Its original spire was constructed in the 13th century, but was replaced in the 19th century due to damage.

The cathedral was undergoing some restorative work at the time the fire broke out, though it is unknown if the fire originated in the area of the work.


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