News Briefs

Washington D.C., Jul 25, 2020 / 06:01 am (CNA).- As school districts around the country are considering in-person or virtual education in the fall, Catholic dioceses are weighing tough decisions about how to serve their students.

Some dioceses are fac… […]

Denver Newsroom, Jul 25, 2020 / 12:25 am (CNA).-  

Priests for Life national director Fr. Frank Pavone has resigned from advisory positions in the reelection campaign of President Donald Trump. The priest withdrew at the direction of Church authorities, he told CNA Friday.

“I’ve been requested by the competent ecclesiastical authority not to have an official title/position on the advisory boards. So, as a priest in good standing, I’ve followed that request,” Pavone told CNA July 24, in response to questions about his role in the Trump campaign.

In January, Pavone was appointed co-chair of the Pro-Life Voices for Trump coalition, and in April was announced as a member of the Catholics for Trump advisory board; the priest headlined that month an online kickoff event for the Trump Catholic group. Both groups are organized as part of the Trump campaign. Pavone was also a co-chair of the Trump pro-life coalition in 2016.

Pavone’s role in a political campaign was unusual for a priest. Members of the clergy require permission to “have an active part in political parties,” according to the Church’s canon law.

In April, Pavone told CNA that he did not believe himself to need permission for campaign involvement because he considered Trump’s reelection to be a matter of urgency. “I’m not going to ask anybody’s permission to go scream that the house is on fire,” he said at the time.

But on Friday, Pavone said that he had “been asking for permission to serve on these advisory boards” when he was “requested” to resign from them.

Pavone did not indicate what authorities had directed him to resign from the Trump campaign. In 2005 Pavone was incardinated in the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas, when he transferred to that diocese from the Archdiocese of New York with plans to begin a pro-life religious order of priests. Those plans did not materialize, and Pavone found himself at odds with Bishop Patrick Zurek, soon after the bishop was installed in 2008.

In 2011, the dispute between Pavone and Zurek became public, after the priest was recalled to the diocese and suspended by the bishop. Pavone appealed to the Vatican, and the suspension was eventually lifted in 2012.

In April, the priest told CNA that his relationship with Zurek remained rocky, describing communication with his bishop as “dysfunctional,” and saying that he was in the process of transferring to a new diocese.

The Diocese of Amarillo has not responded to repeated requests from CNA for clarity about Pavone’s political activity or ecclesiastical status, including requests to clarify whether he has faculties to minister publicly as a priest.

Pavone told CNA Friday that he remains incardinated in the Amarillo diocese, “but my transfer has been canonically completed to a different bishop who has good will toward me and my work.” He declined to name that diocese, saying that “the announcement of what diocese I’m in now is up to the same ecclesiastical authority to make.”

While Pavone is no longer part of the Catholics for Trump coalition, the group drew attention on Friday when it announced that author and YouTube commenter Taylor Marshall would join the Catholics for Trump advisory board.

Pavone’s role in the 2016 Trump campaign sparked considerable controversy in the Church. Ahead of the election the priest filmed a video at the Priests for Life headquarters, urging support for Trump. The video was filmed with the body of an aborted baby laid before Pavone on what appeared to be an altar.

Soon after video’s release, Zurek said he would open an investigation into the incident, calling it “against the dignity of human life” and “a desecration of the altar,” and adding that “the action and presentation of Father Pavone in this video is not consistent with the beliefs of the Catholic Church.”

While the diocese has not announced the results of that investigation, Pavone claims that he has been “cleared of the past complaints/investigations/disciplinary actions by the bishop of Amarillo. That chapter is closed.”

Pavone said that while he will no longer occupy a position in the Trump campaign “nothing has changed in my advocacy for the president, given that the Democrats do indeed pose a grave threat to ‘the rights of the Church’ and ‘the common good,’ a point I’ll be making constantly between now and November 3.”

“Any cleric who doesn’t see that point has his head in the sand or in a Democrat echo chamber,” the priest added.

Pavone is not the only priest in recent U.S. history to make headlines for involvement in an election.

In 2008, Chicago priest Fr. Michael Pfleger drew attention for appearing as part of a “People of Faith for Obama” coalition during then-Senator Barack Obama’s primary battle against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

Pfleger’s bishop, Cardinal Francis George, said at the time that “while a priest must speak to political issues that are also moral, he may not endorse candidates nor engage in partisan campaigning.”

[…]

CNA Staff, Jul 24, 2020 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- Catholic schools in California are taking appropriate measures against the threat of the new coronavirus and authorities should issue waivers to rules that bar the schools from reopening for “vital” in-person education, the California Catholic bishops have said, citing the low risk of coronavirus infection among children.

Their statement came as California broke its record for numbers of positive Covid-19 tests, 12,800.

“We understand that the threat of the coronavirus is real and ongoing in our state. And we understand the legitimate concerns that teachers, parents, and elected officials have about the safety of returning to the classrooms this fall,” the California Catholic Conference said July 22. “At the same time, we are deeply concerned about the broader health and development issues for our children if the state presumes to rely only on distance learning until a vaccine is developed.”

“In-person learning, especially at the lower grades, provides emotional and social skills and supports that are crucial to early childhood development and the overall well-being of children which simply cannot be replaced,” said the bishops.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on July 17 announced requirements for resuming in-person instruction at all primary and secondary schools from transitional kindergarten to grade 12. In California, 33 of its 58 counties will begin with distance learning only. These are on a state “watch list” as judged by health officials monitoring elevated infection rates, increased hospitalizations, limited hospital capacity, or other troubling patterns, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Schools that do open must require masks for older children. Faculty and staff must wear masks and have access to consistent testing.

If students or educators test positive for coronavirus, their classroom would have to close and quarantine for 14 days. If a school’s student body and staff reach an infection rate of 5%, the school would have to close. A widespread outbreak in a school district would require a school shutdown, the Sacramento Bee reports.

Regarding limits on in-person education, the bishops asked the governor to speed the creation of regulations that would allow local authorities to grant waivers on a case-by-case basis at the local level.

“Our Catholic schools across the state have been diligently implementing the Centers for Disease Control guidance for schools and the recommendations of local health authorities in preparing to return to the classrooms,” the bishops said. “As many businesses, organizations, and government offices around the country are doing, we are making accommodations to adapt to the new realities caused by this pandemic.”

“The public-health science suggests that elementary-age students can return with low risk of infection or transmission of the virus among students or between students and teachers,” they continued. “So, we are urging Governor Newsom to continue the dialogue on this crucial question of how to reopen our schools safely.”
The bishops did not cite particular public health science experts.

Their language differs from CDC guidance, which says that the virus poses “relatively low risks” to children, compared to other ages. As of July 17, children and adolescents under 18 accounted for under 7% of COVID-19 cases and less than 0.1 percent of related deaths. In the U.S. there have been some 4 million confirmed coronavirus cases, with over 140,000 deaths.

About 80% of people infected with coronavirus recover without special treatment, but 20% require hospitalization, with the elderly or those with underlying health conditions facing higher risks. Some figures indicate about children make up about 1 percent of the total coronavirus hospitalizations. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, about 2% to 4% of children who contract coronavirus will be hospitalized. However, they make up extremely low figures of intensive care unit hospitalizations.

There are 64 known coronavirus deaths of children, less than the number of children who have died of influenza in each of the last five flu seasons. A rare condition called Multisystem inflammatory Syndrome in Children is believed to be linked to the virus, but only about 342 cases have been identified, including six deaths.

California added a record 12,800 confirmed coronavirus cases on July 21. It now has the most cumulative coronavirus cases of any U.S. state, having surpassed New York with over 430,000 cases. The state’s seven-day rolling average test rate is at about 7% positive, higher than the rate of 5% over 14 days that most epidemiologists consider necessary to re-open safely. Consistent testing failures could also under count the actual virus numbers, CBS Los Angeles reports.

California ranks as the most populous U.S. state, the third largest in area, and the eleventh in population density. Newsom said new California coronavirus numbers are not the highest per capita among states, but are “nonetheless, a sober reminder of why we are taking things as seriously as we are.”

The CDC has discussed reopening schools in several documents, including “The Importance of Reopening America’s Schools This Fall,” updated on its website July 23.

Infections among younger school children and from student to teachers has been low, “especially if proper precautions are followed.” There are also few reports of children being the primary source of transmission among family members. Virus and antibody testing suggest children are “not the primary drivers” of the spread of the virus.

“No studies are conclusive, but the available evidence provides reason to believe that in-person schooling is in the best interest of students, particularly in the context of appropriate mitigation measures similar to those implemented at essential workplaces,” the CDC said.

In another July 23 document, “Preparing K-12 Administrators for Safe Return to School in Fall 2020,” the CDC said, “There is mixed evidence about whether returning to school results in increased transmission or outbreaks.”

California bishops stressed Catholic support and cooperation in efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19, including closing schools and suspending worship.

“We took these steps, not because the government issued orders, but because our God is love and he calls us to love for our neighbors,” they said. “That means working for the common good and protecting the sanctity and dignity of human life, taking special care for the poor and elderly, the sick and vulnerable.”

Like the CDC, the U.S. bishops stressed the importance of in-person education.

“What our children will lose by ‘virtual’ education — in terms of emotional development, skills and learning and achievement — will have a significant impact,” the bishops said. “In the name of protecting their health in the short-term, we may very likely be risking their long-term growth and potential.”

[…]

Denver Newsroom, Jul 24, 2020 / 04:51 pm (CNA).- As someone who teaches couples about Natural Family Planning (NFP), Jeanice Vinduska most often fields questions of doubt from couples who are used to artificial means of contraception, such as birth control pills and IUDs.

It can be difficult to convince some people that a natural means of planning and spacing children is effective and worthwhile, especially in a culture where artificial contraception is widely accepted and used, Vinduska told CNA.

But Vinduska also fields questions from Catholics and Christians who are dubious of NFP because they are concerned it could be contraceptive too.

“I had a woman in my parish who said…’Well, this is just natural contraception,’” Vinduska recalled. Vinduska works as the co-director of the FertilityCare Center of Omaha, with the St. Paul VI Institute, which specializes in teaching women and couples the Creighton method of NFP.

The Creighton method is a method of NFP that tracks cervical mucus as a symptom of fertility in women. It can be used by couples to achieve or avoid pregnancy, and it can also help diagnose conditions like endometriosis.

But methods of NFP differ from artificial means of contraception in that they do not do anything to disrupt the sexual act, Vinduska said. “Contraception basically prevents fertilization. It prevents human life,” she said. “Oral contraception can even act as an abortifacient.”

NFP, on the other hand, allows married couples to track their fertile and infertile days and to decide when to be sexually intimate and when to abstain from sex, based on what is best for their family at that time, Vinduska said.

And unlike contraception, NFP is approved by the Catholic Church as a means of planning and spacing children in accordance with God’s plan.

The ‘quiverfull’ movement

Some Christians are part of the “quiverfull” movement, which gets its name from Psalm 127: 3-5: “Certainly sons are a gift from the LORD, the fruit of the womb, a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man who has filled his quiver with them.”

Christians with a “quiverfull” mentality towards family planning believe that they should have as many children as God will give them, and refuse the use of contraception or Natural Family Planning. They also do not attempt to resolve any physical defects that cause infertility, which they also see as God’s will.

But the “quiverfull” mentality has never been a part of the teaching of the Catholic Church, Vinduska said.

“That’s never been a teaching. It’s more about being open to life and finding a responsible way of family planning, of fertility regulation.”

Dr. Janet Smith is a Catholic theologian and author of “Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later” and “Self-Gift: Essays on Humanae Vitae and the Thought of John Paul II.” She has frequently written and spoken about Humanae Vitae, including in her signature talk, entitled “Contraception: Why Not”.

Smith said the Catholic Church instead teaches that God has given humans reason and freedom to choose to have children freely, or to abstain when they are fertile.

“God gives us the possibility of pursuing many goods; he forbids us from doing evil, but permits us to choose freely between goods,” Smith told CNA.

“Some couples are blessed with many resources both material and spiritual that enables them to have many children, but others need to limit their family size because of various difficulties in their lives. Certainly couples should be generous in their child-bearing, but the Church teaches that for serious or just reasons spouses may limit their family size,” she said.

NFP differs from contraception by allowing the couples to fully participate in the marital embrace without removing the possibility of conceiving, Smith noted. The Church supports NFP because it does nothing to change the meaning of the marital act.

“Contraception undercuts that meaning since it removes the commitment-making power of procreation.”

Church teaching also differs from the quiverfull mentality in that couples experiencing fertility are also free to attempt to remedy physical defects so that they may have children, Smith said.

“[I]f couples have correctable physical defects that prevent them from conceiving, it is fully in accord with God’s will that they attempt to have those defects repaired,” she said.

Humanae Vitae

Pope Paul VI, for which the institute in Omaha is named, wrote one of the most oft-referenced encyclicals on the subject of marriage, sexuality and family planning in his encyclical letter, Humanae Vitae.

In it, Pope Paul VI first states that “the transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator. It has always been a source of great joy to them, even though it sometimes entails many difficulties and hardships.”

In section 10 of the letter, the pope states: “Married love, therefore, requires of husband and wife the full awareness of their obligations in the matter of responsible parenthood, which today, rightly enough, is much insisted upon, but which at the same time should be rightly understood.”

Rightly understood, responsible parenthood is exercised “[w]ith regard to physical, economic, psychological and social conditions…by those who prudently and generously decide to have more children, and by those who, for serious reasons and with due respect to moral precepts, decide not to have additional children for either a certain or an indefinite period of time.”

What serious reasons are serious enough?

Pope Paul VI wrote that while Catholic couples are free to exercise their reason and freedom in planning their families, they also must involve God in their decisions.

“[T]hey are not free to act as they choose in the service of transmitting life, as if it were wholly up to them to decide what is the right course to follow,” he wrote. “On the contrary, they are bound to ensure that what they do corresponds to the will of God the Creator. The very nature of marriage and its use makes His will clear, while the constant teaching of the Church spells it out.”

Smith said that there are a variety of serious reasons for which couples may decide to avoid having children for a time or an indefinite period, depending on the circumstances.

“For example, if a family is financially strapped and can’t pay the bills, it would make sense to postpone having a child; if the wife has serious health conditions that a pregnancy would exacerbate or if she has duties that are so consuming (such as caring for an elderly parent or challenging child) another child may be an excessive burden,” Smith said.

Vinduska said she has worked with couples to avoid pregnancies for certain periods of time for such reasons. For example, she said, one woman was on a strong medication for a disease that made her bones brittle that would have caused serious defects if she were to become pregnant; other women with cancer have needed to avoid pregnancy while going through treatment.

The woman was successfully able to avoid a pregnancy while on the medication using the Creighton method, Vinduska said.

“We want to make sure that they are using a natural system and following their moral beliefs,” she said. “And they don’t have to be Catholic to do this. We teach NFP for everybody.”

Smith said that NFP could even be used for lesser reasons. During a 2018 talk at for a symposium at Benedictine College, Smith noted that couples can morally abstain from having sex for all kinds of non-fertility related reasons: someone has a headache, the couple wants to catch a sports game, or finish a movie, or they are staying somewhere with thin walls, and so on.

In those instances, Smith said, it is perfectly moral to abstain from sex.

“So I have a simple question for you. Why would it be wrong not to have sex because it’s not a good idea to have a child at that time?” she said.

The Church does not mandate any particular amount that couples must be sexually intimate, she said.

However, she told CNA, couples should “keep praying that God will let them know if they are being selfish,” although she added, “that selfishness is usually incompatible with long term use of NFP since only the virtuous and unselfish can use NFP over a long period of time.”

The benefits of NFP for marriage

Both Vinduska and Smith said that using a method of Natural Family Planning can be very beneficial for couples.

Vinduska said one of the biggest benefits of using NFP in a marriage is that it improves “communication, especially communicating where they’re at with their fertility and infertility. If the couple is charting together, it’s not such a surprise for either one of them where they’re at in their cycle.”

Something else that benefits couples using NFP is using the periods of abstinence to reconnect in ways other than sexuality, Vinduska said. She said she encourages couples she works with to use these times to develop common hobbies and interests, which serve to strengthen their relationship in other ways.

“Once you’re married, you kind of slip a little bit in doing the things like you did when you were dating,” she said. “But you shouldn’t have to always spend a lot of money. If you both like the outdoors, find a time to set aside to go hiking, go to a park. Maybe they can garden together, take up a new activity that gives them that sense of doing something together.”

The low divorce rates among NFP using couples speak for themselves, Smith added.

“The fact that couples using NFP almost never divorce…is a very revealing fact. NFP is a lot more than abstaining during the time a woman is fertile; it is a method that requires a lot of communication and shared values,” she said.

“It fosters the virtues of patience and ability to sacrifice. Women in couples who use NFP believe their husbands are exceptional (and husbands love that) and know their husbands love them for more than their sexual availability – a feeling that delightfully leads to them wanting to be more available (and their husbands love that).”

[…]

CNA Staff, Jul 24, 2020 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- Catholic bishops across the United States have issued joint statements with their Greek Orthodox counterparts expressing sorrow at the reopening of Hagia Sophia as a mosque on Friday. 

July 24, was declared a “Day of Mourning” as the former Byzantine cathedral opened for formal Islamic Friday prayers for the first time in more than 80 years on July 24. 

Hagia Sophia had been a museum since Turkey’s establishment as a secular state. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signed a decree July 10 converting it into a mosque following a ruling by the Council of State, Turkey’s highest administrative court, earlier that day which declared unlawful an 80-year old government decree converting the building from a mosque into a museum.

Religious leaders around the world, including Pope Francis, decried the move, with the pope saying it caused him “great sadness.”

On Tuesday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said that Friday would be observed as a “Day of Mourning” and that Catholics would join the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America “in offering our prayers for the restoration of Hagia Sophia as a place of prayer and reflection for all peoples.”

On Friday, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago and Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Nathanel of Chicago released a joint statement saying they were “troubled by the government’s disregard for religious pluralism in Turkey.” 

“We are particularly concerned because this action represents a visible marginalization and continued attack on the religious freedom of Turkey’s Christian communities and other religious minorities,” the cardinal and metropolitan said. 

“Together, we join all those who mourn this divisive act and urge the world to stay vigilant in protecting religious minorities and religious freedom in Turkey.” 

In Boston, Metropolitan Methodios and Cardinal Seán O’Malley issued similarly critical of the change. 

The conversion of the building into a mosque “alters the status quo that has existed for the last 85 years and causes great pain to many throughout the world,” said O’Malley and Metropolitan Methodios. 

The two pointed out that the Hagia Sophia, which was completed in the year 537 before its forced conversion into a mosque, following the capture of Constantinople in 1453, had “served as a preeminent place of Christian worship for almost twice as long as it did a mosque.” 

“Since its conversion into a museum, countless visitors have passed through its great bronze doors and appreciated its distinctive architecture and historic mosaics,” they said. “It is as much an engineering marvel today as it was when the Eastern Roman Empire built it. This is truly a unique building that the entire world admires and respects.” 

O’Malley and Metropolitan Methodios urged Erdogan to restore the building once again to a museum, and said that doing so would strengthen all religious communities in Turkey. 

Archbishop Gregory Hartmayer, OFM Conv. of Atlanta and Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta released their own joint statement on July 20. 

“This current situation grieves us as both Christian Hierarchs, and as citizens of this great land whose commitment to religious tolerance still shines forth as a beacon to other nations,”they said. 

“The fact that the Turkish government would choose to reverse this decision of nearly a century, violates not only that same spirit of tolerance, but also insults the faith and wounds the hearts of Christians worldwide, Orthodox and Catholic alike. 

Hartmayer and Metropolitan Alexios requested that Christians throughout the country “not only pray for, but speak up for Hagia Sophia.”

“We must all do our part, through whatever means at our disposal, to ask that our elected officials pressure the Turkish government to reaffirm its commitment to the principles of religious tolerance and mutual respect,” they said. 

While religious leaders condemned the decision, the organization In Defense of Christians, along with the Hellenic American Leadership Council and the Armenian National Committee of America, called for a boycott of Turkish products and services in response to the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque. 

“Christians in the Middle East have faced genocide, destruction of their homelands, and persecution from Turkey. Enough is enough,” said a statement from In Defense of Christians President Toufic Baaklini.

[…]

CNA Staff, Jul 24, 2020 / 01:08 pm (CNA).- Fr. Michael McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus Catholic fraternal organization, will be beatified on October 31, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints announced this week. 

The congrega… […]

CNA Staff, Jul 24, 2020 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- Pro-life leaders are sounding the alarm against efforts in the House to undermine pro-life protections in federal spending bills.

On Friday, the House passed a “minibus” bill outlining funding of … […]