Vatican City, Mar 18, 2021 / 07:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis has sent a letter to an ecumenical community experiencing “a severe trial,” encouraging the group to “persevere in its initial intuition” despite a dispute with its foun… […]
CNA Staff, Mar 18, 2021 / 06:05 am (CNA).- It is probably the most comprehensive and transparent study ever commissioned by a German institution on the subject of sexualized violence against minors: The publication of the 800-page, independent Gercke R… […]
CNA Staff, Mar 18, 2021 / 06:00 am (CNA).- A German cardinal facing calls to resign welcomed on Thursday the release of a long-awaited report on the handling of abuse cases in his archdiocese.
In an interview with CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-langu… […]
Washington D.C., Mar 18, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Darren Stern, a Catholic HVAC repairman near Baltimore, Maryland, is not shy about sharing his faith with customers.
In an interview with EWTN News In Depth that aired on March 10, Stern talked about how he provides customers with a small “wind-up Jesus” figure to keep near their air conditioner.
“Well, a lot of times I’m like, if you want this air conditioner to keep running keep this little Jesus by it because I think it’s the only thing that’s going to make it work,” Stern said. When customers ask him if their unit’s problem is “that bad,” he says he replies “it’s that bad!”
“Everybody needs a little Jesus in their life,” Stern said.
Stern says his faith carried him through his sufferings from chronic anxiety, which he says he struggled with for nearly 20 years.
“I was like a perfectionist, and I didn’t want to let people down,” Stern told EWTN News In Depth. His worry and stress affected him so much that he couldn’t eat.
“I would just keep going because it’s in my mind. It was all you could do, just keep going, just keep going, keep running,” he said of dealing with his anxiety.
Stern turned to God when all else failed. “It got so bad that I was ready to give up and I said, ‘Jesus you got to help me. I got to get through this, and I didn’t know how to get through it. I didn’t know what was going to happen,’” Stern recalled.
“When you have nothing, then Jesus is all you have, and I was down at the end,” he said.
After years of prayer, Stern said he learned to abandon himself to God. “Just talk to Him and just listen,” he said of his prayer to Jesus.
“I surrendered. I said to myself, ‘let Jesus take all the bad stuff,’” he said.
“I started embracing all that energy that just had stored up inside me, stopped worrying so much about what other people thought and about all the problems,” he said. “Just go out and do the best you can, and that’s what I kept focusing on.”
And Stern’s faith gave him hope as well. “You know I still wake up with anxiety, everybody does. You’re gonna have that, but now it’s different.”
“You know Jesus is right there, what can go wrong?”
CNA Staff, Mar 17, 2021 / 08:50 pm (CNA).- The New Mexico state Senate has passed a bill to decriminalize assisted suicide, which the state’s Catholic bishops had strongly opposed.The bill, known as the “Elizabeth Whitefield End of Life Options Act,” a… […]
CNA Staff, Mar 17, 2021 / 08:46 pm (CNA).- A district court in Japan has ruled that the government’s failure to acknowledge same-sex marriage is a violation of the constitution.A Sapporo district court said the government’s definition of marriage was d… […]
Salt Lake City, Utah, Mar 17, 2021 / 08:11 pm (CNA).- The governor of Utah is considering signing a bill that would make pornography filters mandatory and switched on by default on cell phones sold in the state.
The bill would require smartphone manuf… […]
Springfield, Ill., Mar 17, 2021 / 07:01 pm (CNA).- Illinois’ requirement to notify parents of a minor who seeks an abortion is a law that helps save lives and ensures parents are involved in their children’s major decisions, the Catholic bi… […]
Little Rock, Ark., Mar 17, 2021 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- With a 72-20 House vote on Monday, both chambers of the Arkansas General Assembly have approved a bill allowing medical providers to refuse participation in acts that violate their conscience.
The March 15 vote on the Medical Ethics and Diversity Act was largely along party lines. Two Republicans, Craig Christiansen and Joe Jett, voted against the bill; and seven lawmakers — three Republicans and four Democrats — abstained.
The bill, which was passed by the Senate in February, will return there for the reconciliation of amendments.
Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson has said he is neutral on the bill, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
The bill would apply conscience protections to medical workers, hospitals, and insurance providers. It would not allow participation in emergency services to be declined. An amendment to the bill removed philosophical beliefs or principles as a basis of conscience, while leaving religious, moral, and ethical beliefs or principles.
“This bill provides a remedy for our medical care providers. It does not discriminate in any way,” Rep. Brandt Smith, R-Jonesboro, a co-sponsor of the bill, said. The bill is supported by state surgeon general Greg Bledsoe.
House Minority Leader Tippi McCullough, D-Little Rock, said Arkansas medical providers consciences are not now being violated, and that “there will be some that will use this to discriminate or to make folks feel uncomfortable in a lot of ways. To take one of our liberties, religious freedom, to believe as you wish, and to twist it to infringe on other’s rights, even medical rights, is reprehensible.”
According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the bill is opposed by abortion and contraception rights supporters, disability rights groups, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, local chapters of the National Association of Social Workers and the American College of Emergency Physicians, and the state chamber of commerce.
Earlier this month, Hutchinson signed into law the Arkansas Unborn Child Protection Act, which bans abortions except when medically necessary to save the life of the mother.
The state legislature is also considering bills to regulate medical abortions and to fund private school vouchers.
CNA Staff, Mar 17, 2021 / 05:36 pm (CNA).- Christianity can shed light on the path forward for the peace process in Ireland, religious and political coexistence, and understanding the shared the history of Ireland’s peoples, religious leaders of major religious groups said in a joint St. Patrick’s Day message as major centenaries approach in 2021.
“Christ’s teaching, ministry and sacrifice were offered in the context of a society that was politically divided, wounded by conflict and injustice. His call to ‘render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things of God’ conveyed the reassurance that beneath these societal fractures lay a deeper source of connection because all things belong to God,” said the March 17 statement “In Christ We Journey Together.”
“Jesus lived out this message of hope by repeatedly and intentionally crossing social boundaries to affirm the dignity of those who had been marginalized or excluded by his own people and by society,” the message continued. They cited gospel stories like Christ’s encounter with the woman of Samaria, saying, “Christ does not seek to minimize differences, but rather to establish connection through gracious listening, replacing exclusion and shame with the hope of new beginnings.”
Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh was a signer of the statement, as was his Church of Ireland counterpart, John McDowell. Other signers were Dr. David Bruce, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland; Dr. Thomas McKnight, President of the Methodist Church in Ireland, and Dr. Ivan Patterson, President of the Irish Council of Churches.
The signers also filmed readings of the statement in a video message at St. Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral in Armagh, the historic center of Irish Christianity.
“In our approach to the past we have a moral responsibility to acknowledge the corrosive impact of violence and words that can lead to violence, and a duty of care to those still living with the trauma of its aftermath,” the statement said.
The year 2021 will mark the centenary of the close of the Irish War of Independence and the Truce of July 11 which halted the war. This is followed by the Dec. 6 anniversary of the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which led to the partition of Ireland into the predominantly nationalist and Catholic Irish Free State, and the predominantly pro-United Kingdom and Protestant Northern Ireland.
Disputes over the treaty among nationalists led to the Irish Civil War, while Catholics in Northern Ireland would suffer discrimination and political and economic exclusion that helped to fuel further discord. A period of civil strife, reprisals, and terrorism known as The Troubles began in the late 1960s and largely closed with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
However, the departure of the U.K. from the European Union called “Brexit” has caused continued uncertainty and fears that the political border will again be a source of difficulty. There have been occasional violent paramilitary actions driven in part by renewed sectarian or political tensions.
In such a situation, the Christian leaders called for wisdom.
“Every generation of leaders, civil and political, is called to make choices about the structures that govern our life in community, now and in the future, in circumstances that will always be less than ideal,” they said. Significant anniversaries are a chance to reflect and re-examine “the contrasting and intertwined narratives of conflict and compromise that surround these pivotal points in our history.”
“We find inspiration and encouragement in the progress that has been made through our peace process in building relationships of mutual respect and trust across these islands,” they continued. “These relationships are often tested, and will at times be found wanting, but our communities have also demonstrated great resilience, solidarity and compassion, evident most recently in the response to Covid–19.”
“Some may struggle with the concept of a shared history when it comes to the centenary of the partition of Ireland, the establishment of Northern Ireland and the resulting reconfiguration of British–Irish relationships,” they added. “What is undeniable, however, is the reality that we have to live in a shared space on these islands, and to make them a place of belonging and welcome for all.”
The ecclesial leaders praised “considerable progress” in “addressing unjust structures that excluded people and unfairly limited their life chances.”
“The power of institutions has diminished, leading to greater accountability for those in leadership. This helps create an environment where we can value our different identities in a pluralist public square, conscious of both our rights and responsibilities. Yet there is much work still to do,” they said.
They warned against the temptation to retreat into online spaces or other areas where “our definition of community is limited to those who agree with us.” Doing so, they said, “leads to an increasingly fragmented society in which too many people fall through the cracks.”
They said there is a need “to be intentional in creating the spaces for encounter with those who are different from us, and those who may feel marginalized in the narratives that have shaped our community identity.”
“This will require us to face difficult truths about failings in our own leadership in the work of peace and reconciliation,” the leaders said. “As Christian churches we acknowledge and lament the times that we failed to bring to a fearful and divided society that message of the deeper connection that binds us, despite our different identities, as children of God, made in His image and likeness. We have often been captive churches; not captive to the Word of God, but to the idols of state and nation.”
That said, they added that Christian communities can contribute to society.
“Churches, alongside other civic leaders, have a role to play in providing spaces outside political structures that give expression to our inter–connectedness and shared concern for the common good,” they added. “It is our hope that shared reflection on our past will support and strengthen this engagement, inspiring us to renew our commitment to the work of building peace for the future.”
© Catholic World Report