Hartford, Conn., Mar 28, 2018 / 10:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In light of Holy Week, the Knights of Columbus announced that it will be donating more than $1 million to aid persecuted Christians in the Middle East.
“As we recall the passion, death a… […]
Denver, Colo., Mar 28, 2018 / 07:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A recent study shows that when it comes to upward economic mobility, family and community makes a notable difference in the lives of black boys.
The study found that significant gaps exist between black and white boys when it comes to upward economic mobility throughout their lifetimes, while these differences are nearly non-existent between black and white girls.
While racism is widely considered to be a factor in that economic disparity between white and black boys, numerous other factors are also at play, according to the study conducted by researchers Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, Maggie Jones, and Sonya Porter at The Equality of Opportunity Project.
Black boys on the whole face an upward economic mobility gap even when raised in similar neighborhoods, families and income levels as white boys, the study found.
But the study found one notable exception – black boys from impoverished neighborhoods do as well as white boys from similar neighborhoods when there are a lot of black fathers and married couples present in the community. The study found that the presence of fathers matters at a community level, meaning that even black boys without resident fathers did as well as white boys, if they came from communities with high concentrations of black fathers and married couples.
“That is a pathbreaking finding,” William Julius Wilson, a Harvard sociologist who studies economic struggles of black men, told the New York Times. “They’re not talking about the direct effects of a boy’s own parents’ marital status. They’re talking about the presence of fathers in a given census tract.”
Some responses to the study have claimed that family structure matters minimally for the upward mobility of black boys. However, Dr. Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project and professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, told CNA that those takes ignore this important finding about marriage structure at the neighborhood level.
Those “are obviously two important family structure indicators that matter at the neighborhood level, so the point there is it’s not just what happens in the individual households, but what’s sort of happening to the family in your neighborhood or your community that would seem to matter for mobility,” Wilcox told CNA.
Wilcox also noted in an article on the study that on the whole, young black men are much more likely to be raised in single-parent homes than young white men, so “if you control for household income growing up, you miss the ways in which racial differences in family structure affect outcomes for boys via their impact on family income.”
Furthermore, the study compares the household income of black boys to their individual income as grown men. Wilcox said a more accurate comparison would be to compare the household income of black boys to the household income of those same boys when they reach adulthood, in order to measure the impact that marriage and family structure continues to have on income.
“I think you would find a very different story, because as they note in the study, blacks marry at much lower levels than do whites, and…you do find that the family structure plays a major role in accounting for the contemporary family income gap, or household income gap between blacks and whites today,” he said.
Bishop Shelton Fabre, chair of United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Subcommittee for African-American Catholics, told CNA that this study shows the need to support and encourage marriage and fatherhood in all communities.
“I know that its manifestation in the African American community is unique, but I think in many cultures, that the whole notion of what it means to be a father, and how to support men who are fathers, and to call men to fatherhood, I think that that’s a need,” he said, “more than just in the African American community.”
The Church can and does encourage fatherhood and married couples especially through marriage preparation programs, Fabre said, as well as Marriage Encounter retreats that support couples throughout their marriage.
Furthermore, the rise of apostolates geared toward men, such as “That Man is You”, show the growing need for providing support for fathers and men in the Christian community, Fabre noted.
“That Man is You” is a Catholic ministry for men that says it “honestly addresses the pressures and temptations that men face in our modern culture, especially those relating to their roles as husbands and fathers.”
The Church is also able to fill in some of the gaps in places where fewer fathers are present, Fabre noted, through mentorship programs at the parish level or through organizations such as the Knights of St. Peter Claver. The Knights of St. Peter Claver is the largest African American Catholic lay organization in the United States, and “provides mentorship and opportunities for young black men to come to know their faith, and that mentorship certainly would get into what does it mean to be a good father,” Fabre said.
It’s important that the Church emphasize the unique things that fathers and mothers bring to families, Fabre added.
“A mother’s love, and a mother’s example, are unique. But the role of father is unique as well. The father brings that sense of security and stability, and other things that young men need to come to know,” he said. “I think mothers provide a lot, but for a young man to have a father to guide him, and to just listen to him and bounce ideas off of him, and help him to learn from his mistakes, and to make his choice that much sweeter, I think that’s the role of a father. I think it’s because a father has a particular role, and a mother has a particular role in the family. And children need that.”
Washington D.C., Mar 28, 2018 / 05:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. bishops have voiced concern over the abnormally low levels of refugees admitted to the U.S. under the Trump administration, saying that it puts those fleeing danger at risk, and fails … […]
Indianapolis, Ind., Mar 28, 2018 / 04:52 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Doctors in Indiana must report legally specified complications that might arise from abortions under a law signed by Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb.
“This bill does what two other states h… […]
Denver, Colo., Mar 28, 2018 / 02:55 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Any priest will tell you that Easter Sunday Mass is one of the most highly attended of the year, alongside Christmas Mass and, at least in the United States, Mass on Ash Wednesday. But Easter Sunday Mass, while popular, is not the only important or beautiful liturgy celebrated during the days of Holy Week and the Easter Triduum.
In fact, the liturgies of Holy Week are designed to foster in Catholics an intimate and historical connection to the Church, and to death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Timothy O’Malley, director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, gave CNA insight into the symbolism and foundations to the Chrism Mass, Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Tenebrae, Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion, and Easter Vigil.
Chrism Mass:
The Chrism Mass is one of the largest annual gatherings of the priests in each diocese. During the Mass, clergy are encouraged to renew the promises made at ordination, and laity are invited to renew their baptismal promises.
Traditionally celebrated on the morning of Holy Thursday, the diocesan bishop blesses three sacred oils: the Oil of the Sick, the Oil of Catechumens, and the Chrism Oil. The oils are distributed to the parishes in the diocese and are used for the sacraments of anointing of the sick, ordination, confirmation, and baptism.
The Oil of Catechumens “will be used for anointing before baptism, as well as anointing catechumens throughout the process in which they enter the Church” O’Malley explained.
Chrism “is the traditionally fragrant oil which is used for the ordination of priests, used for post-baptismal anointing for infant baptism, and is used for the sacrament of confirmation,” he added.
Oil of the Sick is used in the sacrament of the anointing of the sick.
O’Malley emphasized the importance of the symbolism of oil in the Old Testament for royalty and healing and the importance of Jesus’s identity as the “anointed one.”
The blessed oil is “evidence of Christ being there as the anointed one who comes to anoint in the threefold vocation as priest, prophet, and king, but also anoint in healing, to anoint those who are suffering so that the oil becomes an image of Christ.”
Mass of the Lord’s Supper:
The Mass of the Lord’s Supper celebrates the institution of the Eucharist and includes a physical reenactment of Christ washing his apostles’ feet.
O’Malley said the Mass focuses on three aspects of Christ’s life: the gift of the Eucharist, the Passion, and the foot washing.
“For the Mass of the Lord’s Supper there is the gift of Christ in the Eucharist, this gift which is an image of his own gift upon the Cross. The liturgy itself, it concludes with this kind of Eucharistic procession and then we wait with Christ in the midst of his Passion.”
The foot washing, O’Malley said, “is actually very interesting, it was often done in monasteries, where the guests would have their feet washed. It entered into the liturgy itself, where there would be the washing of the feet of the 12, as the sort of image of washing of the 12 apostles.”
Tenebrae:
Latin for ‘darkness,’ Tenebrae is a form of the Liturgy of the Hours on the eve of Holy Thursday, which prepares the participants for the coming darkness of Christ’s death and his descent into hell.
With roots in the ninth century, Tenebrae vigils were once celebrated at most parishes throughout Holy Week, and included Psalms and Lamentation readings and the extinction of candles.
“It involved the reading of Lamentations, the gradual extinction of candles, and then the sort of beating of the pews that you would hear to represent the noise of Christ descending into darkness to transform it,” said O’Malley.
Tenebrae liturgies are still celebrated in many parishes.
Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion:
The Good Friday liturgy is not a Mass, but a service reflecting on the Passion of Christ and the power of the cross.
Participants listen to the scripture of Christ’s passion and venerate the cross. Worshipers kiss the cross, a practice recorded by the fourth-century pilgrim Egeria. While the cross is kissed, O’Malley said, two ancient hymns are sung: the Reproaches and the Pange Lingua.
The Reproaches, or the Improperia, are a series of chants and responses, which reflect on Christ’s lamentations during his Passion. One of the lines is “I led you out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom, but you led your Savior to the cross.”
Written by the St. Fortunatus, the Pange Lingua celebrates the life-giving power of Christ’s Passion. O’Malley said the hymn “describes the cross as this flowering of new life, the tree of life rather than the tree of death.”
Good Friday’s liturgy does not include the Eucharistic consecration, O’Malley said, but the Holy Eucharist is already sanctified and distributed to the worshipers.
Easter Vigil:
At the Easter Vigil, the Paschal candle is blessed and lit outside the Church, and worshippers assemble with unlit candles. As the priests process to the altar, the fire of Christ’s light is passed from candle to candle within the Church.
The Easter Vigil is the pinnacle of the Triduum, said O’Malley, drawing attention to Christ’s light, which abolishes darkness, and to his salvation, which is now opened to the catechumens.
“All candles have been extinguished, all darkness has descended, now new light is lit in this Easter fire.”
Worshipers hear the story of salvation through seven Old Testament readings, Psalms, and then a Gospel passage recounting Christ’s resurrection. Converts to Catholicism are baptized and confirmed, welcomed into the communion of the Church.
Participants “listen to the fullness of salvation that is revealed finally in Christ, culminating in a reading of the Gospel of the resurrection,” said O’Malley. “Then of course there is the celebration of the Eucharist, this sort of concluding sort of moment in which the Church is illuminated and sings in praise.”
A Triduum of Conversion
The US bishops’ executive director of the Secretariat for Divine Worship, Father Andrew Menke told CNA that the liturgies of the Triduum are an opportunity for conversion.
“I suggest trying to have a strong sense of what it would have been like in Jerusalem during those days, what it would have been like to have been one of the apostles and one of the Lord’s friends or would have been someone in the crowd to have seen these things,” Menke said.
Menke said that during the Holy Week liturgies, “people have had a deeper experience of how much sin costs and why it’s so horrible – why I want to live a better life for example. That’s the sort of thing contemplating on Good Friday would move a person towards. Or how much my Lord loves me, [as we] relive him washing the apostles’ feet, for example. I think a lot of people have had a conversions to a deeper sense of the Eucharist through what our Lord did at the Last Supper.”
He also said that life experience can deepen the experience of worship during the Triduum. “Some people, especially people who have suffered a lot, the resurrection takes on a whole new meaning. You learn these things when you were a kid, but sometimes having life experiences as an adult, having lost people you love, Easter can have a big impact on a person. Enkindle a deeper kind of hope and trust in the Lord’s Providence, [as we] see how he conquers death.”
Atchison, Kansas, Mar 28, 2018 / 02:48 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The promise of the sexual revolution and contraception was total sexual freedom for everyone.
“Sex is for fun and now women can have just as much fun without the consequences,” Ar… […]
Irondale, Ala., Mar 27, 2018 / 04:45 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Tuesday Catholics marked the second anniversary of the death of Mother Angelica, foundress of EWTN Global Catholic Network.
“Mother Angelica’s spirit continues to guide all that … […]
Washington D.C., Mar 27, 2018 / 04:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Archdiocese of Washington was in court on Monday, arguing that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s ban on any religious-themed advertisements is unconstitutional.
The case was brought to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and argued March 26.
In October 2017, the WMATA rejected a series of ads from the archdiocese which featured a biblical scene and a message about attending Mass and donating to charity. The ads were intended to run during the Christmas season. The archdiocese filed suit in late November, alleging discrimination.
The ads read “Find the Perfect Gift,” and contained a link to a website containing content about Mass times and opportunities for charities. The website also stated that “JESUS is the perfect gift.”
In 2015, WMATA had banned all advertisements that concerned religion, including those both promoting or condemning a particular faith. This ban came after a group attempted to place anti-Muslim advertisements on busses and subway cars.
Despite the supposed ban on religious-themed advertisements, WMATA displayed an advertisement for the Salvation Army after it rejected the Archdiocese of Washington’s advertisements. The Salvation Army is an ecclesial community which has a large charity drive during the Christmas season.
Previously, a district court sided with WMATA and denied the archdiocese’s request for an injunction, saying the case would not likely succeedd on religious freedom or free speech grounds.
“The Archdiocese has consistently sought to protect and defend our constitutional right of free speech and expression of our faith in the public square,” said Ed McFadden, secretary of communications for the Archdiocese of Washington.
“We were pleased that our legal team had the opportunity to do just that in the appeals court, and are grateful for the court’s consideration of the matter.”
The Department of Justice filed an amicus brief in support of the Archdiocese of Washington in January.
“WMATA’s policy constitutes unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. The policy directly contravenes Supreme Court precedents that preclude the government from disfavoring speech from a religious perspective,” wrote the Department of Justice.
“The result is that messages encouraging religious exercise—a right also protected by the First Amendment—are singled out as unacceptable.”
Lincoln, Neb., Mar 27, 2018 / 02:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Nebraska’s unicameral legislature is deadlocked over a provision in the state’s budget bill that would strip Title X funds from abortion providers.
The provision, supported by Gov. P… […]
Washington D.C., Mar 26, 2018 / 04:11 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- “It is more dangerous now than any time in history to be a person of faith,” said Ambassador Sam Brownback at an event marking the second anniversary of U.S. recognition that the Islamic State committed genocide against religious minorities, including Christians, in Syria and Iraq.
Brownback, who was sworn-in as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom last month, said that religious freedom should be advanced in U.S. national security policy, assistance programs, and economic strategies.
“I would like to see religious freedom be for this administration what climate change was for the last,” said Brownback at the March 23 event hosted by the Heritage Foundation.
“ISIS’ Genocide of Christians: The Past, Present and Future of Christians in the Middle East” brought together human rights experts, academics, and religious freedom advocates to examine how best to address the threats posed to religious minorities by extremist groups such as the Islamic State.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously “that the atrocities perpetrated by ISIL against religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria include war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide” in March 2016. Shortly after, Secretary of State John Kerry named Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims as victims of genocide in the region.
While the panel discussions focused on Christians in the Middle East, Brownback also spoke of threats to religious liberty throughout the world. He highlighted the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma, Tibetan Buddhists and Uyghur Muslims in China, and Catholic leaders in Venezuela, who came under fire from President Nicolas Maduro for speaking out about the country’s current crisis.
Brownback called for alliances between the political left and right in working towards greater religious freedom abroad urging, “We are at a critical moment for the future of religious minorities globally.”
He also asked for prayers for the persecuted and for those involved in religious freedom causes.
“By God’s grace, life always triumphs over death, freedom overcomes oppression, and faith extinguishes fear. This is the source of our hope and our confidence in the future,” said Brownback.
© Catholic World Report