US

Hartford, Conn., Sep 18, 2018 / 11:07 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Father Juan Miguel Betancourt Torres, a member of the Institute of the Servants of the Holy Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin Mary, was appointed auxiliary bishop of Hartford on Tuesday.

“I am honored and grateful to be entrusted with this mission of service in the Lord’s Church,” Fr. Betancourt, 48, said Sept. 18. “My prayers are for my seminary family, for my parish family, and for my new family in the Archdiocese of Hartford.”

Archbishop Leonard Blair of Hartford said that “the appointment of Father Betancourt is a cause of rejoicing not only for me personally, but for all our clergy, religious and laity. For me and for our clergy it means the welcome arrival of a dedicated co-worker in the Lord’s vineyard who brings a variety of talents and of experience to our shared ministry.”

“For the laity of the archdiocese in all its present-day diversity, Fr. Betancourt’s Hispanic/Latino heritage will only enhance the pastoral care that he will exercise for the good of everyone of every race and ethnicity,” he said.

“For those in religious life, Fr. Betancourt’s membership in the Society of the Servants of the Eucharist and Mary only serves to underscore the value and contribution that consecrated religious men and women make to the good of the Church.”

Fr. Betancourt was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico in 1970.

He entered the Institute of the Servants of the Eucharist and the Virgin Mary, a contemplative community which is part of the Schoenstatt Movement and which was founded in Puerto Rico, as a postulant in 1992. He professed vows as a religious in 1994, studied at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, and made perpetual vows in 2000.

He was ordained a priest of the religious institute in 2001, and received a licentiate in scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in 2005.

After receiving his licentiate Fr. Betancourt taught scripture at the Pontifical University of Puerto Rico and Regina Cleri Major Seminary, before beginning work in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis in 2006.

Since then, he has been a professor of sacred scripture at the Seminary of Saint Paul and the University of St. Thomas, local superior at the Casa de San José, and pastor of St. James and St. Francis de Sales parish.

Fr. Betancourt currently serves as vice rector and associate academic dean at St. Paul Seminary, in addition to teaching. He is also vicar general of the Society of the Servants of the Eucharist and Mary.

He has served on the Saint Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese’s presbyteral council, and is a board member of the National Conference for Seminarians in Hispanic Ministry.

Bishop Andrew Cozzens, auxiliary bishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and interim rector of St. Paul Seminary, said: “I have known Father Juan Miguel Betancourt for almost 15 years to be a man of deep prayer and a joyful servant in everything he does. His love for the study of sacred Scripture and his gifts for teaching will be a great blessing for his new episcopal ministry. He is a man who desires to be a servant in all he does, as is reflected in the name of his religious community the Servants of the Eucharist and Mary. We will miss the dedication, his wisdom in formation of men, and his joyful Puerto Rican spirit!”

Archbishop Bernard Hebda of Saint Paul and Minneapolis said that Fr. Betancourt’s “sharp intellect, pastoral heart and joyful spirit suggest that the Lord has long been preparing him for this new ministry as a successor to the apostles. While he will be sorely missed at St. Francis de Sales parish and at the St. Paul Seminary, where he has served with distinction, I rejoice with the Church of Hartford at this appointment.”

Fr. Betancourt will be consecrated a bishop Oct. 18 at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford.

[…]

Washington D.C., Sep 17, 2018 / 06:02 pm (CNA).- Courage International, an apostolate to support people with same sex-attraction in leading chaste lives, has issued a statement on three priests mentioned as credibly accused of sexual abuse in the Penns… […]

Washington D.C., Sep 17, 2018 / 04:56 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The purchasing of aborted fetal tissue for use in research is ‘abhorrent’ and must stop, said 85 members of the United States House of Representatives in a letter to the Food and Dr… […]

Detroit, Mich., Sep 17, 2018 / 04:15 pm (CNA).- A lawsuit seeking to end state support for faith-based adoption agencies in Michigan will continue, a judge ruled on Friday.

Federal Judge Paul D. Borman of the Eastern District Court of Michigan denied … […]

Harrisburg, Pa., Sep 17, 2018 / 01:22 pm (CNA).- A class action lawsuit filed Sept. 17 is seeking to require the Catholic dioceses of Pennsylvania to release all records involving allegations of child sexual abuse in the last 70 years.

The lawsuit, fi… […]

Washington D.C., Sep 17, 2018 / 10:45 am (CNA).- Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has denied allegations made against him by Christine Blasey Ford. Ford authored a letter accusing Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when the two were high school studen… […]

Washington D.C., Sep 16, 2018 / 07:00 am (CNA).- Northeast Washington, D.C., has seen rapid gentrification over the past decade. What was once a very poor neighborhood is now home to many high-end businesses, including a Whole Foods Market–and an innovative food pantry inspired in part by the upscale grocery store.

While the Whole Foods Market is open seven days a week, the “Holy Foods Market,” run by the Holy Name of Jesus Parish, located on K Street NE, is open twice a month.

Instead of a traditional food pantry, where those in need would receive a bag of food, clients who visit the Holy Foods Market are able to “shop” through the shelves and pick out what food items they would like.

The pastor at Holy Name of Jesus, Fr. Bill Carloni, said that he wanted to replicate the experience he had visiting Whole Foods in his parish’s food pantry. The idea grew into Holy Foods Market, which began operations in May, a little more than a year after the Whole Foods opened down the street. 

The pantry serves about 80 to 100 families a month, Carloni told CNA in an interview. Unlike many food pantries, few of the clients at Holy Foods Market are homeless. Most of the people served by the Market retirees, single parents, or the elderly. Each client is paired with a volunteer who assists them with the process of “shopping” for food.

Clients choose for themselves how much or how little food they need, within a certain limit. No one is required to take any particular food item, and some “customers” may only want certain things like milk, cereal, or peanut butter, Carloni said.

The setup of Holy Foods Market helps to preserve the clients’ dignity, the pastor told CNA. The pantry does not verify the income of its clients, though it does request that they either live within the approximate geographic boundary of the parish, or else have some sort of interaction with the church, either spiritually or as a volunteer.

“I’ve had feedback from a person, who said, ‘You know, I’m so thankful that you treat me like a human being,’” said Carloni.

“I think that often they say ‘beggars can’t be choosers,’ but that’s the whole point. We don’t want people to feel like beggars, and I think this does help humanize what we do. It does make them feel like they’re shopping.”

Allowing people to choose their own food items also has other benefits, Carloni explained to CNA. Because clients only pick items they actually want, no donated food is wasted.

The system also allows the Market to better accommodate clients with special diets or food allergies.

The previous system of distributing pre-packed bags of food resulted in many items going to waste, said Carloni, noting that cans of food were often found discarded outside of the pantry.

“There was one person who said specifically that she used to come, every month, to get food. But then when she would get home, she would empty the bag and she would keep about half the contents and then she would re-donate the other half back to the pantry, ” said Carloni.

“So she was trying not to waste it, actually, but what would end up happening is that she’d get the same stuff back the next month.”

Caroni told CNA that he believes sometimes people can approach ministries like a food pantry with a  “wrong mentality” and that those who are less fortunate “should be grateful and they should just take whatever they get.”

Fr. Carloni said that for many of the clients at the Market, it is extremely humbling to have to ask for a handout or for food assistance, and they strive to make the process of “shopping” as dignified and “customer oriented” as possible.

“I think a lot of people at one point or another have been in need of charity. Receiving love shouldn’t come at the cost of your dignity.”

[…]

New York City, N.Y., Sep 15, 2018 / 06:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A Catholic Charities in New York has received a nearly $1 million grant to provide care to opioid addicts in rural counties in the southern part of the state.  

This year the Catholic… […]

New York City, N.Y., Sep 14, 2018 / 11:40 am (CNA).- Cardinal Timothy Dolan has spoken about how the extended sexual abuse scandals facing the Church have taken a personal toll on him. The Archbishop of New York said that his own mother is “embarrassed to be Catholic.”

Dolan made the comments to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in a Sept. 13 interview. He said that his mother, who lives in an assisted-living home, told him that people knew her son was a priest and that she was ashamed of the scandals. 

“If you don’t think that’s wrenching, I tell you, it’s awful. This summer has been anything but a church picnic for us. It’s been a disaster–one crisis after another,” he said.

Dolan also said that, while scandals involving sexual abuse among the clergy were “not new,” he had listened to many survivors face-to-face throughout the years and that the damage done to them and to the Church was terrible.

The cardinal explained that when people came to him in anger and frustration about the revelations he told them how he shares their pain and outrage. Dolan also expressed his anger at how his fellow bishops could be “so negligent” in failing to properly respond to allegations of abuse.

Despite this anger at members of the Church hierarchy for mishandling or ignoring abuse claims, Dolan gave a strong vote of personal support to Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C.

Dolan said that Wuerl had a strong record as a reformer who has taken tough action against clerical abuse.

Cardinal Wuerl has faced numerous calls for his resignation in the fallout of the revelations concerning his predecessor, Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, and a Pennsylvania grand jury report on allegations of sexual abuse in several dioceses in that state.

“I’ve got to be personal,” Dolan said of Wuerl, “he’s a good friend and he’s a tremendous leader. I kind of hope he doesn’t resign. We need him. He’s been a great source of reform in the past.”

Dolan did, however, say that he would “trust” Wuerl’s decision if he felt it was necessary to resign.

Wuerl, the former bishop of Pittsburgh, was named over 200 times in the Pennsylvania grand jury report. In addition to persistent questions about his knowledge of the accusations against McCarrick, he has faced criticism for his handling of some cases involving accused priests during his time in Pittsburgh.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Cardinal Wuerl submitted his resignation to Pope Francis following his 75th birthday three years ago, as is required by canon law. By not accepting the resignation, Pope Francis has allowed him to continue in office past the normal retirement age.

While it was widely thought that Wuerl hoped to continue in post at least until the U. S. Bishops’ conference met for their general session in November, an Archdiocese of Washington spokesman recently confirmed to CNA that he plans to travel to Rome “soon” to request that the pope accept his resignation.

As Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Dolan was responsible for overseeing the preliminary investigation into allegations that Archbishop Theodore McCarrick groped a 16 year old boy in 1971. McCarrick was serving as a priest in the Archdiocese of New York at that time.

That investigation, which began in 2017, determined the accusation to be credible and forwarded the charge to authorities in Rome. The public disclosure of that finding in June 2018 triggered a succession of public accusations that McCarrick had sexually assaulted or abused seminarians and priests over a period of decades, as well as a further accusation that he had sexually abused a minor.

Since then, numerous bishops in the United States and Rome have faced questions about when accusations against McCarrick had first been made known to Church authorities, and how he had been allowed to continue in ministry despite widespread rumors of his misconduct.

[…]

Washington D.C., Sep 13, 2018 / 02:30 pm (CNA).- The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote Sept. 20 on whether or not to recommend Judge Brett Kavanaugh for confirmation to the Supreme Court, committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced on … […]