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Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt Easter Vigil Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC

April 1, 2024 Catholic News Agency 11
Protesters disrupt the Easter Vigil Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City on March 30, 2024. / Credit: XR NYC Palestine Solidarity

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 1, 2024 / 16:20 pm (CNA).

Three pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested after disrupting the Saturday evening Easter Vigil Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City as the faithful were celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Protesters entered the cathedral about 45 minutes into the 8 p.m. Vigil Mass, which was celebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, and stood in front of the altar with a large flag that read “silence = death.” Security quickly tried to wrestle the flag from the protesters and eventually forced them away from the altar and toward the exit of the church before police came to arrest them.

As the protesters were being forced out of the cathedral, more protesters who were standing in the pews shouted “free, free Palestine.” Security also forced those protesters out of the church. 

New York City police arrested three of the protesters without further incident: 63-year-old John Rozendaal, 35-year-old Gregory Schwedock, and 31-year-old Matthew Menzies. According to police, all three were charged with disrupting a religious service, which is a Class A misdemeanor. 

“Three male individuals barged [into] the church and disrupted Mass by approaching the altar while yelling ‘Free Palestine,’” according to a statement the New York City Police Department provided to CNA.

The protesters who disrupted the Mass were associated with a subgroup of the environmental group called Extinction Rebellion (XR). The subgroup is called XR NYC Palestine Solidarity. All three men issued statements through the organization in a news release after their arrests.

“War, occupation, and industrial pollution are poisoning the soil, air, and water in Gaza and all over the planet, destroying the earth’s capacity to sustain life,” Schwedock said. “This destruction is called ‘Ecocide.’”

The disruption of the Mass occurred following a daylong pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square.

The news release from XR NYC Palestine Solidarity said that its goal was to “demand faith leaders speak out” about the war in Gaza. 

Although it’s unclear what the protesters are specifically requesting of Catholic faith leaders, both the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Pope Francis have vocally urged a cease-fire in Gaza for months.

The week before, the USCCB urged the faithful to direct prayers during Holy Week “for an end to the raging Israel-Hamas war.” 

“To move forward, a cease-fire and a permanent cessation of war and violence is absolutely necessary,” the bishops said in their March 31 statement. “To move forward, those held hostage must be released and civilians must be protected. To move forward, humanitarian aid must reach those who are in such dire need.”

The pontiff urged an end to the war and expressed solidarity with Catholics in the Holy Land in a letter during Holy Week: “You are not alone; we will never leave you alone but will demonstrate our solidarity with you by prayer and practical charity.”

Neither St. Patrick’s Cathedral nor the Archdiocese of New York responded to a request for comment.

[…]

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As wife joins the Catholic Church, Jordan Peterson says Easter is ‘the core story of humanity’

April 1, 2024 Catholic News Agency 2
Psychologist and author Dr. Jordan Peterson speaks to EWTN News In Depth’s Colm Flynn as Peterson’s wife, Tammy, joins the Catholic Church. / Credit: Screenshot/EWTN News in Depth

CNA Staff, Apr 1, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Psychologist and author Jordan Peterson spoke about Easter as the “core story of humanity” in an interview with “EWTN News In Depth” hours before his wife, Tammy, joined the Catholic Church this Easter at Holy Rosary Church in Toronto.

Tammy Peterson’s faith was formed through praying the rosary while she struggled against a rare form of cancer. Peterson is known for his biblical lectures on Genesis and Exodus in particular, which often appeal to both Christian and secular listeners. 

When asked by EWTN News correspondent Colm Flynn about what he thought about the Christian Easter message, Peterson said that it’s “the core story of humanity.” 

“I’ll speak psychologically about it and speak in terms of its literary echoes,” he said. “It’s a variant of the dragon and treasure story, which is the oldest story we have. It’s the core story of humanity in some fundamental sense — that in the darkest places, what’s of most value can be found.” 

Peterson noted that he was “not going to delve into theological matters” but that “speaking strictly psychologically,” the Easter story describes “the worst that life and death can throw at us,” but then offers a “promise.” 

“The promise in the story is that, if that’s undertaken wholeheartedly, the consequence is redemptive, transformative and redemptive,” he said. “A resurrection of the spirit, a resurrection of the spirit eternally — that’s the promise.”

When asked what the cross meant to him, Peterson said “it’s the point where everything comes together.”

“It’s the agony of life,” he continued. “With God’s grace, you might say that the triumph of life, in the face of agony, in the face of malevolence, that’s what it is.”

“We’re very confused about what faith is in the modern world. We think that faith is your verbal assent to a collection of descriptive statements,” he noted. “That’s perhaps an element of faith. …But the faith itself is, what would you say? It’s the willingness to presume that being and becoming is good despite tragedy and malevolence.” 

In the interview, Peterson reflected on the idea of a “calling.” 

“You’re called upon to climb Jacob’s Ladder, and it spirals infinitely upward — well, to where?” Peterson asked. “Infinitely upward isn’t a place — It’s a direction. Heaven is a place that’s perfect, that’s getting better at the same time.”

“Anything that attracts your attention is a portal to the divine,” he added. “You’ll pursue that thing that attracts your attention, that’s your calling, and then it’ll transmute, and you’ll find yourself oriented in another direction. The spirit that remains constant through all the transformations of your calling — that’s the divine.” 

“That’s what the divine is; it’s ineffable because it can’t be fully revealed. It’s unlikely to be fully revealed in the course of your existence, but it calls you forward continually,” he continued. “That’s what the burning bush is in the story of Moses. It shows itself in different places for different people.”

When asked what it was like to see his wife join the Catholic Church, Peterson said it’s a “miraculous thing to see.” 

“I loved my wife from the moment I laid eyes on her when I was a kid,” he said. “If you love someone, it hurts you when you see them deviate from the thing that draws you to them. And since she’s pursued her efforts at enlightening herself more thoroughly — and this investigation of Catholicism has been key to that — she’s much more who she is.”  

Though his wife became Catholic, Peterson said he remains “unlikely” to join the Church. When Flynn asked what was holding Peterson back from becoming Catholic himself, he responded: “I don’t think anything’s holding me back. Everybody’s got their own destiny.”

Peterson said that whether this was part of his own “destiny” was “unlikely” because he, as he put it, “exist[s] on the borders of things.” 

[…]