News Briefs

Peoria bishop ‘overjoyed’ that Venerable Sheen’s body will be transferred

June 10, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Peoria, Ill., Jun 10, 2019 / 02:51 pm (CNA).- The Diocese of Peoria has confirmed that the Archdiocese of New York has “indicated their willingness” to cooperate with the transfer of Venerable Fulton Sheen’s remains to Peoria, potentially clearing the way for the Illinois-born archbishop’s beatification.

“Bishop Jenky is overjoyed and elated that, for the fifth time, the New York courts have upheld Joan Sheen Cunningham’s petition,” the diocese said June 9.

Sheen’s will had declared his wish to be buried in the Archdiocese of New York Calvary Cemetery. Soon after Sheen died, Cardinal Terence Cooke of New York asked Joan Sheen Cunningham, Sheen’s niece and closest living relative, if his remains could be placed in the crypt of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, and she consented.

However, Cunningham has since said that Sheen would have wanted to have been interred in Peoria if he knew that he would be considered for sainthood. In 2016, she filed a legal complaint seeking to have her uncle’s remains moved to the Cathedral of St. Mary in Peoria.

“Bishop Jenky is also grateful to hear reports that the New York Archdiocese has indicated their willingness to cooperate with Joan Sheen Cunningham and the Diocese of Peoria to transfer the remains of Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen. The Diocese of Peoria will be contacting the New York Archdiocese in order to facilitate this transfer.”

The New York Court of Appeals denied the Archdiocese of New York’s appeal to keep his remains there June 7. The appeals court had dismissed New York’s previous appeal in May.

The appeals court first unanimously ruled that Sheen’s remains be transferred to Peoria in March 2019. The Superior Court of New York had issued a similar ruling in June 2018.

The Peoria diocese opened the cause for Sheen’s canonization in 2002, after the Archdiocese of New York said it would not explore the case. In 2012, Benedict XVI recognized the heroic virtues of the archbishop.

However, Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria suspended the beatification cause in September 2014 on the grounds that the Holy See expected Sheen’s remains to be in the Peoria diocese.

The New York archdiocese, however, has previously said that Vatican officials have said the Peoria diocese can pursue Sheen’s canonization regardless of whether his body is at rest there.

Sheen was born in Illinois in 1895, and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria at the age of 24. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of New York in 1951, and he remained there until his appointment as Bishop of Rochester in 1966. He retired in 1969 and moved back to New York City until his death in 1979.

An initial court ruling had sided with Cunningham, but a state appeals court overturned that ruling, saying it had failed to give sufficient attention to a sworn statement from a colleague of Archbishop Sheen, Monsignor Hilary C. Franco, a witness for the New York archdiocese.

Msgr. Franco had said that Sheen told him he wanted to be buried in New York and that Cardinal Cooke had offered him a space in the crypt of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The appeals court ordered “a full exploration” of the archbishop’s desires.

“The Trustees of St. Patrick’s and the Archdiocese believed that it was not simply their duty, but a solemn obligation, to seek to uphold Archbishop Sheen’s last wishes, as directed in his Will, to be buried in New York – a position held until recently by Joan Cunningham herself,” Joseph Zwilling, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of New York, told CNA June 8.

“In light of the court’s denial of further appeal, the Trustees of St. Patrick and the Archdiocese will work cooperatively with Mrs. Cunningham and the Diocese of Peoria to arrange for the respectful transfer of Archbishop Sheen’s mortal remains.”

Bishop Jenky thanked Patricia Gibson, the diocese’s chancellor and attorney, for her work on the case, and asked for prayers for the advancement of the sainthood cause of Venerable Sheen.

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Polish priest in stable condition after being stabbed before Mass

June 10, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Wrocław, Poland, Jun 10, 2019 / 12:01 pm (CNA).- A Catholic priest in Wrocław is in stable condition after reportedly being stabbed before morning Mass on Monday, Polish sources are reporting.

A spokesperson with University Clinical Hospital in Wrocław told the Polish press agency PAP that the priest, Fr. Ireneusz Bakalarczyk, was recovering well from surgery that treated internal injuries in his chest and abdomen that he reportedly sustained during the June 10 stabbing.

Fr. Bakalarczyk was on his was to celebrate Mass at the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Sand, in the city center of Wrocław, when a 57 year-old man approached him and started a conversation about the sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church, before allegedly pulling out a knife and stabbing the priest in the chest and abdomen, according to local news channel TVP Info.

Łukasz Dutkowiak, a spokesperson for the local police, told PAP that the attacker was detained by witnesses immediately after the incident until the police arrived.

Rafal Kowalski, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Wrocław, told PAP that he could not confirm whether the homeless man actually spoke to the priest before attacking him. He added that the alleged stabbing did not seem to be motivated by a personal grievance against Bakalarczyk, and that the attacker seemed to have been willing to attack any “man in a cassock.”

The attacker is in custody, and charges will be brought against him Tuesday, officials told PAP.

Last month’s release of a documentary on clergy sex abuse in Poland had prompted a national conversation in Poland. The film presents allegations that abusive priests were shifted between parishes, and shows people confronting elderly priests alleged to have abused them as children.

The nation’s bishops are speaking out against sexual abuse, pledging to continue to “eliminate factors conducive to crime” as well as to adopt a more sensitive attitude toward victims than in the past.

A study commissioned by the Polish bishops’ conference and released in March revealed nearly 400 Polish priests were accused of sexual abuse of more than 600 people from 1990 until 2018. Just over half of reported victims were under the age of 15. Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki of Poznan, president of the Polish bishops’ conference, called the report’s findings “tragic.”

In a May 22 letter, the Polish bishops urged: “Let us not let the good, that is done in the Church through their ministry, be obscured by the sins of particular persons.”

“On the principle of collective responsibility, let us not also convey the guilt of particular people in cassocks to all priests. These people committed these acts and they should be punished for their actions. Let us support in these difficult times the priests who work with sacrifice so that they don’t lose their enthusiasm and receive encouragement from the lay faithful.”

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Francis: Leaders who talk of peace but sell arms will face ‘wrath of God’

June 10, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Vatican City, Jun 10, 2019 / 11:08 am (CNA).- Discussing the Syrian civil war Monday, Pope Francis said God hears the cry of orphans and widows, and that his wrath will be visited on those who deal in arms trafficking while speaking of peace.

“I think with sadness, once again, of the drama of Syria and the dense clouds that seem to thicken above it in some areas that are still unstable and where the risk of an even greater humanitarian crisis remains high. Those who have no food, those who do not have medical care, who have no school, orphans, the wounded and widows raise their voices up high,” the pope said June 10 to participants in the plenary assembly of the Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches.

“The hearts of men may be insensitive, but that of God is not: wounded by the hatred and violence that can be unleashed among his creatures, always able to be moved and take care of them with the tenderness and strength of a father who protects and guides. But sometimes I also think of the wrath of God that will be unleashed against the leaders of countries that talk about peace and sell weapons to carry out these wars. This hypocrisy is a sin.”

Francis’ meeting with ROACO was at the Vatican’s Consistory Hall. The organization unites funding agencies to provide services to members of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

In his address the pope also discussed Iraq, where he said he wishes to visit next year, hoping “it may look ahead through the peaceful and shared participation in the construction of the common good of all the religious components of society, and that it may not fall into the tensions which come from the never-ending conflicts of regional powers.”

Pope Francis then voiced his desire for peace among the people of Ukraine, “whose wounds caused by the conflict we have tried to alleviate with the charitable initiative to which many ecclesial realities have contributed.”

“In the Holy Land, I hope that the recent announcement of a second phase of study of the restoration of the Holy Sepulchre … will be accompanied by the sincere efforts of all local and international actors for a peaceful coming soon living together in respect of all those who live in that land, a sign to all of the blessing of the Lord,” he reflected.

He recalled his condemnation of arms trafficking, saying: “People fleeing, huddled on ships in search of hope, not knowing which ports they will be able to receive, but in Europe they open the ports to boats that have to load sophisticated and expensive weapons, capable of producing devastation that do not spare even children. This is the hypocrisy of which I spoke.”

“We are aware here that Abel’s cry rises up to God, as we remembered in Bari a year ago, praying together for our faithful of the Middle East.”

Though there is lamentation and weeping in the homes of the Eastern Catholic Churches, there is also “hope and consolation” through ROACO’s “tireless work of chariaty,” the pope said.

“This expresses the face of the Church and contributes to making her alive, in particular nurturing hope for the young generations. Young people have the right to be heard announcing the fascinating and demanding word of Christ and … when they meet an authentic and credible witness they are not afraid to follow Him and to question themselves on their vocation.”

He urged the members of ROACO to “ontinue and increase your effort, so that in the countries and situations you support, young people can grow in humanity, free from ideological colonization, with open hearts and minds, appreciating their national and ecclesial roots and desiring a future of peace and prosperity, which leaves no one behind and discriminates against no-one.”

The pope recalled with gratitude the reopening of the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and he urged the spreading of his document on human fraternity adopted in February with the grand imam of al-Azhar.

“And let us all commit ourselves to preserving those realities that have been living the message for years, with particular attention to educational institutions, schools and universities, so precious especially in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East, authentic laboratories of coexistence and workshops of humanity to which all can easily have access,” he concluded.

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Guam governor wants to expand abortion, but local doctors are unwilling

June 9, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Hagatna, Guam, Jun 9, 2019 / 04:24 am (CNA).- The government of the island of Guam is offering waivers and discounts for contraception through a public health clinic, and the territory’s governor has said she wants to find a doctor willing to perform abortions, after the retirement of the island’s last abortionist.

Governor Lourdes Leon Guerrero, a former nurse who took office in January, recently expressed her wish to expand abortion access in the state, but no doctors on the island are willing to perform abortions.

Though abortion is legal in some cases in Guam, the territory’s last abortion doctor retired in May 2018.

“I’m concerned about [abortion] going underground because then we can’t really control it, we can’t really monitor, we can’t really make sure that the women are doing it in an environment that is conducive to a healthy recovery,” she told the AP last week.

Guam is predominantly Catholic, and Guerrero has said that finding a doctor willing to perform abortions there “will take some work.” She said officials are trying to recruit doctors to come to the island and establish clinics.

Abortion is legal in Guam up to 13 weeks or up to 26 weeks in case of rape or incest, but anyone who terminates a pregnancy without help from a doctor can be charged with a felony, the AP reports. Doctors also have the legal right to refuse to perform an abortion except in the case of a medical emergency.

Women in Guam seeking abortions must fly thousands of miles from the island to seek abortions elsewhere, the AP reports. Many go to Hawaii, as the nearest mainland country, the Philippines, does not allow abortion. U.S. federal law applies in Guam and its people are U.S. citizens; the island is home to about 170,000 residents.

Despite this, there have only two or three Guam women given abortions in Hawaii since last year, and none was an elective procedure, an OB-GYN and University of Hawaii professor told the AP.

The morning after pill, an abortifacient drug, is available in Guam over the counter and by prescription for women over 18.

Pro-life activism on the island, led by the Guam Catholic Pro-Life Committee, saw hundreds of pro-life advocates march in Guam’s first annual Rally for Life in January.

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Fulton Sheen remains will move to Peoria, NY archdiocese says

June 8, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Peoria, Ill., Jun 8, 2019 / 03:14 pm (CNA).- The Archdiocese of New York will work to help transfer the remains of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, a spokesman for the archdiocese told CNA Saturday. The decision is the conclusion of a long legal battle over the late archbishop’s burial place.

“We have been informed that the New York Court of Appeals has denied further appeal of the New York Supreme Court decision upholding Joan Cunningham’s petition to disinter Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s mortal remains from under the altar at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where they have rested for nearly 40 years,” Joseph Zwilling, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of New York, told CNA.

The denial of the archdiocese’s appeal to keep Sheen’s remains in New York was delivered by the New York Court of Appeals on Friday, June 7.
  
“While we did not initiate this matter, the Trustees of St. Patrick’s and the Archdiocese believed that it was not simply their duty, but a solemn obligation, to seek to uphold Archbishop Sheen’s last wishes, as directed in his Will, to be buried in New York – a position held until recently by Joan Cunningham herself,” Zwilling said.

Cunningham is Sheen’s niece and closest living relative. Cunningham has said in the past that although her uncle’s will states that his wish was to be buried in New York, she believes he would have wanted to have been interred in Peoria if he knew it would help advance his cause for sainthood.

The Peoria diocese opened the cause for Sheen’s canonization (the process to become an officially recognized saint in the Catholic Church) in 2002, after Archdiocese of New York said it would not explore the case. In 2012, Benedict XVI recognized the heroic virtues of the archbishop.

In September 2014, Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria suspended Sheen’s cause on the grounds that the Holy See expected Sheen’s remains to be in the Peoria diocese.

In 2016, Cunningham filed a legal complaint seeking to have her uncle’s remains moved to the Cathedral of St. Mary in Peoria.

The Archdiocese of New York has repeatedly appealed the attempt to transfer Sheen’s remains to Peoria, arguing that Vatican officials have said the Peoria diocese can pursue Sheen’s canonization regardless of whether his body is buried there.

Archbishop Sheen was a beloved television catechist during the 1950s and 60s in the United States. Sheen was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois at the age of 24, and was appointed auxiliary bishop of New York in 1951, where he remained until his appointment as Bishop of Rochester, New York in 1966. He retired in 1969 and moved back to New York City until his death in 1979.

On June 8, the Archdiocese of New York confirmed to CNA their cooperation in the transfer Sheen’s remains.
 
“In light of the court’s denial of further appeal, the Trustees of St. Patrick and the Archdiocese will work cooperatively with Mrs. Cunningham and the Diocese of Peoria to arrange for the respectful transfer of Archbishop Sheen’s mortal remains.”

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