CNA Staff, Nov 19, 2020 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- A cardinal who is convalescing after he was hospitalized with the coronavirus said Thursday that he was praying for those “still in the moment of trial.”
In a Nov. 19 message, Cardinal Gualtiero B… […]
Vatican City, Nov 19, 2020 / 11:00 am (CNA).- For more than 60 years, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa has preached the Word of God as a priest — and he plans to continue doing so, even as he prepares to receive the cardinal’s red hat next week.
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Vatican City, Nov 19, 2020 / 07:30 am (CNA).- A Vatican bishop said this week that a committee of outside professionals is being created to help keep Holy See investments both ethical and profitable.
Bishop Nunzio Galantino, president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), said Nov. 19 that statutes for a new “Investment Committee” were waiting to be approved.
The committee of “high-profile external professionals” will work with the Council for the Economy and the Secretariat for the Economy to “guarantee the ethical nature of investments, inspired by the social doctrine of the Church, and at the same time, their profitability,” Galantino told the Italian magazine Famiglia Cristiana.
Earlier this month, Pope Francis asked that investment funds be moved out of the Secretariat of State and into APSA, Galantino’s office.
APSA, which functions as the Holy See’s treasury and sovereign wealth manager, administers payroll and operating expenses for Vatican City. It also oversees its own investments. It is now in the process of taking over the financial funds and real estate assets which were, until now, administered by the Secretariat of State.
The 72-year-old Galantino said in the interview that the Vatican’s new law on the awarding of contracts was “an important step forward, then. But that is not all.”
“Transparency, fairness and oversight stop being meaningless words or reassuring proclamations only when they walk on the legs of honest, capable women and men who truly love the Church,” he said.
Galantino has led APSA since 2018. In October this year, he was forced to deny claims that the Holy See was heading for financial “collapse.”
“There is no threat of collapse or default here. There is only the need for a spending review. And that is what we’re doing. I can prove it to you with numbers,” he said, after a book alleged that the Vatican might soon be unable to meet its ordinary operating expenses.
In an Oct. 31 interview with the Italian newsaper Avvenire, Galantino said that the Holy See did not use money from Peter’s Pence or the pope’s discretionary fund to cover its losses in the controversial purchase of a London building, but that the sum came from the Secretariat of State’s reserves.
No “plundering” of accounts intended for charitable purposes had taken place, he insisted.
Galantino said that “independent estimates” put the losses at 66-150 million pounds ($85-194 million) and he acknowledged that “errors” had contributed to the Vatican’s losses.
“It will be up to the [Vatican] court to decide whether it was a matter of errors, imprudence, fraudulent actions, or something else. And it will be for the same court to tell us if and how much can be recovered,” he said.
CNA Staff, Nov 19, 2020 / 05:30 am (CNA).- The archdiocese of Vienna has reported a rise in the number of men training for the priesthood.
Fourteen new candidates entered the archdiocese’s three seminaries this autumn. Eleven of them are f… […]
CNA Staff, Nov 18, 2020 / 07:01 pm (CNA).- A law that curtailed pro-life outreach at the last abortion clinic in Mississippi has been repealed by the city of Jackson, leading to the dismissal of a legal challenge against the ordinance.
“This is … […]
Denver Newsroom, Nov 18, 2020 / 06:31 pm (CNA).- The U.S. bishops on Tuesday praised a virtual exhibit created by the Diocese of Green Bay, which features portraits of racially diverse Catholics from the diocese and testimonies about their experiences.
The exhibit, Open Wide Our Hearts, was developed by Peter Weiss, the Living Justice Advocate for the Diocese of Green Bay. Weiss told CNA that his job is primarily a teaching role, seeking to promote Catholic social teaching and raise awareness of problems of injustice.
In 2017, the same year Weiss started at his current position, the U.S. bishops formed the Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism in response to increasing racial tensions and an outburst of violence in Charlottesville, when a white nationalist attacked counter-protesters of a far-right gathering, killing three and injuring 19.
Since its formation, the committee has produced an award-winning children’s book on healing and reconciliation, as well as organizing a day of prayer and fasting in reparation for sins of racism this summer. The bishops this week voted overwhelmingly to renew the ad hoc committee for another three-year period.
Weiss started to consider how he could use his position to help to bring the issue of racial justice into the conversation in Green Bay— a diocese which, he notes, is probably “about 90% white.”
“The experiences of particular racial or ethnic groups is not the same as what the vast majority of people are having within our diocese. And I think it’s important to reach out and find those stories, learn a little more, and find out what they can tell us about our understanding of ourselves as Catholics,” he said.
On a personal level, Weiss said, reports of various killings of black men by police was disturbing to him, in no small part because he has several biracial nieces and nephews.
Around 2018, Weiss attended a traveling photo exhibit in his community chronicling the experiences of racially diverse people, and was inspired to create a similar project for the diocese.
Weiss admits that he had no prior experience as a photographer or a curator of art exhibits. So, that November, he enlisted the help of several leaders of various ethnic groups within the diocese as an advisory team.
The exhibit was inspired in part by the U.S. bishops’ 2018 pastoral letter Open Wide Our Hearts, which condemns racism as a failure to acknowledge others as children of God.
The exhibit features the portraits and testimonies of African Americans, Africans, Native Americans, Asians, and others, all of whom are Catholics who live in the diocese.
One of the portraits in the virtual gallery is of Gerry Martins, who is originally from India and who came to the U.S. as a Catholic missionary.
Martins told CNA that he was glad Weiss approached him to invite him to be a part of the project, adding that he is an amateur photographer in addition to being a missionary and father.
The exhibit seeks to convey the honest experiences of diverse people within the Church, Weiss said, and is not explicitly “about” racism, though some of the subjects do talk about racism they have experienced firsthand.
Though Martins said he has not experienced any overt racism since he arrived in Wisconsin, moving to such a predominantly white area made him feel like he “stuck out” occasionally at Mass and at Catholic functions.
He said the project has been “prophetic” in a way, since the Catholic Church has, since the events of 2020, been focusing more and more on the topic of racism. Martins recently moved with his family to Savannah, and he has shared the virtual gallery with many of his fellow Catholics in his new diocese. A lot of the feedback has been positive, he said.
Martins encouraged Catholics to be open to listening to other people’s experiences, rather than staying closed in stereotypical views. He said he hopes Catholic people of various ethnicities will be open to talking about their culture and traditions.
“We need to be open to listening…it will be good to have these conversations so people feel included. We are an inclusive Church, and everyone is welcome in the body of Christ. I’m definitely hoping we can get the conversation started,” he said.
The exhibit launched as a traveling in-person gallery during November 2019, and ran until March 2020, when it was forced to close amid the coronavirus pandemic.
When protests erupted during the summer of 2020, Weiss said he was inspired to work with the diocesan communications team to adapt the exhibit into an online presentation.
Weiss said he hopes people from all around the country will find the photos and stories compelling and relatable, even if they are specific to people within Green Bay. He said he also hopes that other dioceses may see the online exhibit and be inspired to create their own.
Bishop Shelton Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, chair of the U.S. bishops’ ad hoc committee against racism, praised the virtual exhibit Nov. 17 during the U.S. bishops’ annual fall meeting.
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 18, 2020 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- As some states and cities reinstate restrictions meant to stop the spread of the coronavirus, a survey has found that Americans believe places of worship should not be subject to harsher regula… […]
Denver Newsroom, Nov 18, 2020 / 03:40 pm (CNA).- Two church buildings— one Baptist, one Catholic— were damaged by fires in apparent arson attacks Sunday morning in Brewster, a town in central Washington.
Sacred Heart Catholic Church suffered some fire damage near the sanctuary from an incendiary device dropped through a broken window early Nov. 15. New Testament Baptist Church, located a block away, suffered more serious fire damage to its interior the same morning.
Investigators have deemed the fire at Sacred Heart to be intentional, police say. The police have not yet made the same pronouncement about the fire at the Baptist church, but the investigation is ongoing.
Father Pedro Bautista, Sacred Heart’s pastor, told CNA that most of Sacred Heart’s parishioners are Hispanic, and that the community is “fearful” after the incident.
“This is just adding more stress to the lives of the people,” he said.
Father Bautista said he noticed the fire when he came to open the church on Sunday morning. At that point, the local fire department was already battling the fire at the nearby Baptist church, which appears to have been set around 2 am, and was discovered around 5 am.
The fire damaged a chair and some carpet near the sanctuary at Sacred Heart. Father Bautista said the fire department and the police were surprised that the fire did not do more damage.
The fire at the Baptist church did not entirely destroy the building, but the damage to the interior was significant enough that the building may be beyond salvage, local media reported.
Father Bautista said he left his card with the fire chief— who attends the Baptist church that burned— asking him to tell the church’s pastor that they are welcome to use Sacred Heart’s parish hall as a gathering space until their church is repaired.
“Honestly, that was my first thought. I wanted to talk to them and offer them [our] building. I didn’t realize [someone] had burned our church too,” he laughed.
The priest said he does not know who could have set the fires, and chose not to speculate. The investigation is still in its early stages, he noted, and he said he does not want to feed rumors in the community.
He said he considers his parish to be blessed that their insurance will likely cover the incident, and that he was still able to celebrate 2pm Sunday Mass the day of the fire.
“People were comforted that we were still able to have the Eucharist, that is a big statement for the community,” he said.
The Brewster Police Department said in a Nov. 16 statement that the two fires remain under investigation. The police have not announced any suspects.
Brewster PD Chief Marcos Ruiz declined to comment further to CNA, adding that the department does not have plans to release additional information on the active investigation.
The Diocese of Spokane requested prayers for the Sacred Heart community in a tweet on Sunday. The diocese did not comment further by press time.
Numerous attacks on Catholic churches and art in the U.S. have been documented throughout 2020— including three separate desecrations of Marian statues in the same weekend in July.
At least three vandalism attacks have happened against images of Mary this year in New York City alone.
The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver was defaced with graffiti during a protest June 1, with rioters spray-painting slogans such as “GOD IS DEAD” and “PEDOFILES” [sic] on the church’s exterior.
A statue of the Virgin Mary was beheaded in Gary the evening of July 2 or morning of July 3.
On July 11, a man was arrested after he reportedly admitted to crashing a minivan into Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Ocala, Florida, and then setting it on fire while parishioners were inside. No one was injured.
Also on July 11, a 249-year-old California mission founded by St. Junipero Serra burned in a fire being investigated as arson.
The same day, a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary was attacked and beheaded at a parish in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Three days later, vandals beheaded a statue of Christ outside Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Southwest Miami-Dade County, the same day that a statue of the Blessed Virgin at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Colorado Springs was tagged with red paint in an act of vandalism.
At Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Bloomingburg, New York, a monument to unborn children killed by abortion was knocked over the weekend of July 18.
In late August, vandals beheaded a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Holy Family Parish in Citrus Heights, California. A statue of the Ten Commandments, placed at the parish “in dedication to all those who have lost their life through abortion” was grafittied with a swastika.
In September, a man went on an hours-long vandalism spree at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Tioga, Louisiana, breaking at least six windows, beating several metal doors, and breaking numerous statues around the parish grounds. He was later arrested and charged.
The same month, vandals toppled a statue of St. Therese outside St. Therese of the Child Jesus Catholic Parish in Midvale, Utah.
Later in September, a man was charged for smashing a 90-year-old statue of Christ inside St. Patrick Cathedral in El Paso.
Also in September, a man wielded a baseball bat on the grounds of a Catholic seminary in Texas and damaged a crucifix and several doors, but caused no harm to seminary students.
St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Cathedral in El Cajon on Sept. 25 was defaced with graffiti depicting “pentagrams, upside down crosses, white power, swastikas,” as well as slogans such as “Biden 2020,” and “BLM”.
The same evening, Our Mother of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, also in El Cajon, was similarly attacked, with the pastor discovering spray-painted swastikas on an exterior wall of the church the next day.
In mid-October, vandals knocked down a statue of Mary and a statue of Christ outside St. Germaine Catholic Church in Prescott Valley, Arizona, about 90 miles north of Phoenix.
Throughout the summer, numerous depictions of St. Junipero Serra, mostly in California, have been forcibly pulled down by mobs of protestors.
A crowd of about 100 people tore down another St. Junípero Serra statue in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park the evening of June 19. Rioters pulled down a statue of St. Junipero Serra in Sacramento July 4.
A Oct. 12 protest at Mission San Rafael Arcangel began peacefully but then turned violent, as participants defaced another St. Junipero Serra statue with red paint before dragging it to the ground with nylon straps and ropes. The local district attorney ultimately charged five individuals with felony vandalism in connection with the incident.
Abroad, a recent report chronicled more than 500 hate crimes against Christians in Europe in 2019, included attacks against Catholic priests, arson attacks on Catholic churches, the destruction of images of the Virgin Mary, vandalism of a pregnancy counseling center, and the theft of consecrated Eucharistic hosts from tabernacles.
Rome Newsroom, Nov 18, 2020 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- In 2020, the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal has lost scores of pilgrims and, with them, large amounts of revenue, amid coronavirus travel restrictions which have kept foreigners away.
Spoke… […]
CNA Staff, Nov 18, 2020 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- A new book on St. John Paul II examines the relationship of the Polish pope with Central and Eastern European countries during the Cold War.
“Blood of your Blood, Bone of your Bone: The Pontificate of J… […]
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