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Detroit, Mich., Dec 6, 2018 / 12:54 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As part of a recent evangelization outreach, the Archdiocese of Detroit is launching a Christmas campaign to welcome Catholics who may have been away from the Church.

“This is the way that we are responding to the invitation to share the Gospel with others. This is part of the transformation of being a mission-oriented diocese,” Edmundo Reyes, the archdiocese’s communication director, told CNA.

The campaign is called “Part of the Family.”  Its goal is to create a welcoming environment at Mass and encourage evangelization among the parishioners through virtual tools.

Reyes said these efforts are an extension of the pastoral letter “Unleash the Gospel” released at Pentecost last year. The letter followed several years of preparation, including a year of prayer in 2014 and a synod meeting in 2016.

He said the campaign includes three parts: evangelization training, videos, and a newly published website, specifically focused on Christmas Mass times.

“Our hope is that, with these combined efforts, people that attend Mass once a year or are there for the first time, they experience what we are calling radical hospitality,” he said.

“We target at Christmas knowing there are people who come there for the first time or they haven’t been with us for a while,” he said. “One of the things is we want to be unusually gracious and hospitable for people that come to our churches.”

The first component of the campaign was a day-long evangelization event that included discussions, training, and resource material. More than 800 people from over 120 parishes in the archdiocese attended.

According to the Detroit Catholic, one of the speakers broke down the Gospel into four essential parts. Fr. John Riccardo, pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Plymouth, said the Gospel’s message is on the goodness of God found in his creation, sin and its repercussions, God’s response to sin, and mankind’s response to God.

Hospitality was another major focus of the event, which was held Nov. 16. Regular Mass-goers were presented with simple steps to make people feel welcome, like greeting strangers and sitting in the middle of the pews to allow room on the outsides.

The second element of the campaign is a series of Christmas videos, focusing on the universal Catholic family and God’s incarnation, Reyes said.

“We are all part of the same family, and it’s hard to imagine, but we are celebrating God becoming part of our family. So let’s do it together,” says the narrator in the video. “This Christmas, we are thankful that you are one of us, a Catholic, part of the family.”

The first video was released on Saturday, Reyes said, and it has already received roughly 30,000 views. He said more videos will be released weekly.

In addition, paid ads will be run on spotify, youtube, and social media, inviting people to attend Christmas Mass and bring their friends and family. The ads will use geoparameters to reach people in areas near churches in the archdiocese.

The third aspect of the campaign, Reyes said, is a new website, massfinder.org, to help people navigate Christmas Mass times in the Archdiocese of Detroit. He said the website is accessible, giving people an easy way to discover Mass times and invite friends and family.

“If we want to be truly hospitable, the first encounter the people have with us is going to be trying to find out what time Christmas Mass happens.”

The website includes “share buttons” for people to send links of a specific Mass time via social media, email, or text. When it is shared, the user has access to a virtual reminder of that Mass and a map to the parish.

Especially during this season of giving, Reyes said, the most important gift that can be given is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the love of the Father.

“This is a time we celebrate the Nativity of the Lord, God becoming part of the family. And that’s the theme – Part of the Family. We want make sure that people feel welcome and invited in the celebration of Jesus’ birth.”
 

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Springfield, Ill., Dec 5, 2018 / 04:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Between a Christmas tree and a menorah display in the Illinois state capitol, a statue from the Satanic Temple is standing for the holiday season.

The display shows an apple upheld by an arm … […]

Washington D.C., Dec 5, 2018 / 03:30 pm (CNA).- Three Catholic charitable organizations were named as winners of $5 million grants from the charitable organization of Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos.

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New Orlea… […]

Washington D.C., Dec 5, 2018 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- The National Institutes of Health will not renew a contract with the University of California San Francisco over concerns about the project’s use of fetal tissue.

The National Institutes of Health informed UCSF it will not renew a contract to conduct research into therapies for various ailments, including AIDS and Parkinson’s disease, over concerns about the project’s use of fetal tissue.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, the decision was communicated to UCSF last week following instruction from the “highest levels.” The contract was worth approximately $2 million per year.

As recently as October, the expectation had been that the seven-year project would be extended for a further year. The contract, which expires Dec. 5, will now continue for a further 90 days, with not clear indication of its future beyond that point.

The work in the UCSF lab involves testing on what are known as “humanized mice” that have been implanted with tissues from fetal remains. This causes the mouse to develop an immune system that is similar to that of a humans.

The fetal tissues used in these experiments and research is obtained through abortions.

The decision not to renew the contract follows what the federal government called in a September statement a “comprehensive review” over the funding of research involving the use of fetal tissue. At that time, HHS said that it was seeking “adequate alternatives” to the use of fetal tissue altogether.

In the September statement, HHS wrote that they will work to “ensure that efforts to develop such alternatives are funded and accelerated.”

In November, HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giror characterized the Trump administration as being “pro-life, (and) pro-science” in a letter to Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC). Meadows chairs the House’s Freedom Caucus and is outspoken in his pro-life views.

The non-renewal of the UCSF contract comes just over two months after the government canceled a significantly smaller contract between Food and Drug Administration and Advanced Bioscience Resources, Inc. that also involved the creation of humanized mice.

Following media scrutiny of the existing contract between the FDA and Advanced Bioscience Resources, which has admitted to the “upselling” of some fetal parts obtained through abortion, the contract was canceled and HHS announced that they would review all similar programs.

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Sacramento, Calif., Dec 5, 2018 / 02:43 pm (CNA).- Though a series of devastating wildfires in California is nearly contained, Catholics engaged in relief efforts are warning that the recovery process will be long, and will disproportionately affect undocumented immigrants and the poor, who may not be able to avail themselves of government-provided services.  

Nearly 90 have died in the Northern California fire known as the Camp Fire, though the number of people still missing has dropped from thousands to a list of just 11. The fire began Nov. 8 and as of Dec. 3, the blaze was entirely contained, after having consumed 150,000 acres of land and 18,000 structures.

John Watkins, director of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Sacramento, told CNA that several local aid organizations have been coordinating efforts to help survivors, setting up booths and holding events at the Disaster Resource Center (DRC) in Chico, CA.

Participating groups include local St. Vincent de Paul chapters, Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Charities of California and Northern Valley Catholic Social Service (NVCSS). The Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the local Mexican Consulate are also involved.

“NVCSS will primarily be involved in the second phase of the disaster recovery with Crisis Counseling and Disaster Case Management,” Watkins told CNA in an email.  

“They will likely be hiring dozens of disaster case managers to respond to the Camp Fire. This may not happen for another 4-6 months. The [disaster case management] program will accompany the families for 24 months until they are stabilized.”

In the meantime, Watkins said, the agency is seeking to hire a coordinator to serve families who will not qualify for federal assistance, many of whom are undocumented. He said the NVCSS immigration table at the relief center has helped at least 50 people who lost their immigration documentation in the fire.

The diocese is also providing free school tuition to about 20 students displaced by the fire.

Father Michael Ritter, pastor at St. John the Baptist parish in Chico, told CNA that over 160 members of his parish have been volunteering at the disaster center in Chico through the leadership of St. Vincent de Paul.

“They’re doing intake and assessment, they’re doing gift cards, we’ve been giving out some donated goods that we’ve received, and hygiene kits and whatnot…as of a couple of days ago we had done intake for more than 2,000 families,” Ritter told CNA.  

Ritter said the parish has its own drop-in center, open Friday evenings and Sundays, to help bring a variety of services to people in need. The need for housing, gift cards for groceries, and gasoline is still particularly acute, but prayer for the victims of the fire is also greatly needed, he said.

Ritter said for many undocumented members of the community in need, and even for legal immigrants who may have lost their documentation in the fire, there is a discomfort with approaching FEMA— a federal agency— at the DRC.

“Our hope is that the parish provides a place of greater confidence or trust, where people who maybe wouldn’t be able to approach a federal agency for support can get the same kinds of service,” he said.

Ritter said although the parish events and resources are meant to provide help for anyone, and are not being particularly marketed to the undocumented, it is clear that “the parish provides a safer place for people who would have concerns going directly to FEMA, or for people who FEMA wouldn’t be able to help.”

“What the Church does offer is help for anyone who needs help, and whether one’s documented or not is not a question,” he said.  

“Our strength, particularly as a parish, is the human element in terms of meeting people and empathy, and our effort to be present…It really is incredible to be a witness to some of the great solidarity that we’re seeing. This has definitely changed the culture of Butte County.”

Outside of Chico, the small California city of Paradise was almost completely destroyed by the fire. Nearly all the buildings belonging to St. Thomas More Parish succumbed to the blaze.

Jim Collins, leader of relief efforts at the parish, said volunteers have set up a call center to contact parishioners who are still unaccounted for. As of last week, the volunteers had made contact with just twenty percent of the parish list; the rest were unaccounted for, or had likely lost their landline service in the fire.

“We have an expectation of about 80% [of our 800 parishioners] burned out of their homes, and maybe 20% [of their homes] still standing,” Collins told CNA. “About 80% across the board have lost everything.”

“What we’d like to do now is to direct donations to those most in need, so we worked out kind of a triage to identify those most in need who would normally be those who did not own homes, who were living in rentals that were totally destroyed, and have no insurance compensation coming,” Collins said.

“And also those living in trailers or trailer parks, and that’s a substantial number of our parishioners because it’s kind of a low-income area up in Paradise.”

Ritter said that ongoing support will be important for people in communities like Paradise.

Although there is generally “a huge and very emotional” outpouring of support for victims of a disaster within the first 48 hours, he said, resources will still be needed in six months or a year after the fire.

While individuals and corporations have made generous donations in response to the disaster, “my big ask for people is not to lose that enthusiasm because we’re talking about many months or even years for a real recovery here,” he said.

“The need for aid is going to be just as real [six months or a year from now] as it is now.”

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San Francisco, Calif., Dec 5, 2018 / 02:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Mass of the Americas, a newly-commissioned Mass composed by Frank La Rocca, will premiere Saturday for the feast of the Immaculate Conception at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco.

“The Mass of the Americas is a simultaneous tribute to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (the patroness of the United States) and Our Lady of Guadalupe (the patroness of both Mexico and all the Americas),” Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco has said. “It is in the high sacred music traditions of the Church, yet incorporates traditional Mexican folkloric hymns to Mary.”

The Mass will be said Dec. 8 at 2 p.m. (PST), and will be televised and livestreamed by EWTN.

La Rocca is composer-in-residence at the Benedict XVI Institute, which was founded by Archbishop Cordileone in 2014 to provide practical resources to help parishes have more beautiful and reverent liturgies, and to promote a Catholic culture in the arts.

Archbishop Cordileone had requested the Mass, desiring a Mass setting that would reflect the multicultural diversity of the Church in the Americas.

The Mass of the Americas is a parody Mass, primarily using La Guadalupana, a Mexican folk song celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe. It is written in Spanish, Latin, English, and Nahuatl – the Uto-Aztecan language in which Our Lady of Guadalupe addressed St. Juan Diego.

In an interview at the Benedict XVI Institute’s website, La Rocca noted that he and Archbishop Cordileone “were both aware, in general terms, of the musical models used by missionary priests in Mexico, or later, California; they incorporated beloved popular tunes into the total experience of the Mass,” and that the archbishop suggested the use of La Guadalupana.

“La Guadalupana has always been, and it sounds like, a typical Mexican Mariachi tune … The challenge before me was to make the tune recognizable enough so anyone paying attention would sit up and say, ‘I know that’ but stripped of the sombreros, the guitars, the crooning violins and of course the words,” La Rocca said.

He noted that such a use of folk music in classical compositions is nothing new, and was actually a notable feature of German romanticism.

The Mass of the Americas is written for a 16-voice mixed chorus, along with organ, string quartet, bells, and marimba (a percussion instrument native to the Americas).

The Communion meditation is a Nahuatl setting of the Ave Maria which uses the marimba; La Rocca has said that “there are ways of getting the marimba to sound that are unfamiliar to most people, a way that will fit right in, and that’s what I have done.”

The Mass concludes with the Marian antiphon Alma Redemptoris Mater; following the singing of the antiphon, the organ continues with its tune, and the strings harmonize it with La Guadalupana.

Through its combination of sacred music traditions, folk music, and several languages, the Mass of the Americas “embodies the way Mary, our Mother, unites all of us as God’s children,” Archbishop Cordileone said.

[…]

Naval, Philippines, Dec 5, 2018 / 10:37 am (CNA).- An American priest was arrested in the Philippines Wednesday, amid allegations that he sexually assaulted dozens of boys over a period of decades.

The priest, Fr. Kenneth Hendricks, was arrested Dec. 5 inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary in Naval, Biliran, a province in the eastern part of the Phillippines. Hendricks, 78, has been in ministry in the region for nearly 40 years.

Hendricks was arrested by a joint task force of local police and U.S. Homeland Security Agents. According to PLN News, a warrant for Hendricks’ arrest was issued Nov. 11 by the U.S. District Court  for Court of Ohio. Hendricks faces federal charges for engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign country, a U.S. crime.

“He did not resist arrest,” provincial police director Julius Coyme told The Straits Times.

Coyme told reporters that at least seven complaints about Hendricks have been filed with police. Subsequent investigations revealed that the priest might have had as many as 50 young male victims, The Straits Times reported. Some of his alleged victims reportedly served as sacristans and altar servers for the priest.

A Diocese of Naval directory lists Hendricks as the “priest-in-charge” at the St. Isidore the Worker Mission Chapel.

Toni Cashnelli, a spokesperson for the Order of Friars Minor’s Province of St. John the Baptist, headquartered in Cincinnati, told CNA that Hendricks was formerly a Franciscan priest and a member of the province. Cashnelli said that the priest left the order, but she was unable to specify when he did so, or indicate the diocese into which he was subsequently incardinated.

A 2009 report in the Cincinnati Catholic Telegraph identifies Hendricks as a Franciscan from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

Hendricks is alleged to have sexually abused boys as young as 12, and police say that additional allegations continue to be investigated. He is now being held in Manila.

This story is developing and will be updated.

Editor’s note: This story’s headline originally referred to Hendricks as a “Franciscan.” The headline has been changed.

[…]

Columbia, S.C., Dec 4, 2018 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- Several lawmakers in South Carolina have announced they will introduce pro-life bills in the state’s upcoming legislative session, set to begin next month.

Three anti-abortion laws are expected to b… […]

Washington D.C., Dec 4, 2018 / 05:00 pm (CNA).- Pro-life legislators and organizations remain optimistic about ongoing efforts to ban abortion in the United States, despite an incoming House of Representatives, led by a Democratic majority committed to the practice.

Although leadership elections have not yet taken place, former Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is widely expected to replace outgoing speaker Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), who has retired from Congress. Pelosi is in favor of abortion rights, and once defended her refusal to support a bill banning late-term abortion by saying “As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me.”

With a Pelosi-led Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, pro-life advocates predict it will be much harder, if not impossible, to pass further protections for the unborn. At the same time, they remain confident that their work will continue to be effective.

Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), told CNA that he and other pro-life legislators would have to be “as persuasive as we possibly can to bring up the negative aspects” of abortion and try to change minds on the issue.

Wenstrup added that while it will certainly be a challenge to do anything legislatively with a new majority in the House, he said that there are other issues the pro-life movement can pursue that might garner support from members of the Democratic Party, such as legislation addressing assisted suicide or limiting the use of fetal tissue in experiments.

In addition to being a congressman, Wenstrup is also a physician, which he partially credits for his values, along with his Catholic faith. He said that it was essential that pro-lifers continue to “make the case for what is ethical, what is right” but conceded that there is no practical chance of further legislation to curb abortion during the current lame duck session of Congress.

Pro-life leaders say that there will be significant challenges ahead now with a new party in control of the House of Representatives.

“Well, I think our biggest challenge in the coming two years with a Democratic, pro-abortion Democratic control of the House will be to protect the Hyde Amendment,” National Right to Life Committee President Carol Tobias told CNA.  Tobias said that she believes that the repeal of the Hyde Amendment will be a “top priority” for the new House leadership.

“We know that the American public strongly opposes using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion, but I still expect the Democrats to try very hard to repeal the Hyde Amendment and try to force taxpayer funding on America,” said Tobias.

Tobias was, however, confident that the Senate would be able to continue to confirm pro-life judges to the federal bench. She told CNA that Trump and the Senate have done a “fantastic job” at this over the last two years.

“We are thrilled that pro-life members have actually increased in the Senate after the election, so we will be expecting that to continue,” she explained.

“Which is great news for the future.”

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, met with President Donald Trump last week and urged him to take action during the “lame duck” session of Congress, before the new members officially begin their terms.

Hawkins said she asked the president to refuse to sign any budget that includes funding for the abortion provider Planned Parenthood, and that she hopes Trump will formalize new pro-life protections in Title X regulations “as soon as possible.”

She also encouraged the president to “continue to appoint judges who respect life in law” and to cease the funding of fetal tissue research through the Department of Health and Human Services.

Additionally, Hawkins told Trump that she hopes that the government is able to “sever the connection between sex education and abortion vendors.”

This could be done through new restrictions on federal grants. Currently, Planned Parenthood recieves grants to teach sexual education in schools, Hawkins said.

Hawkins compared the use of the grants to “their own personal marketing slush fund” through which teens are taught to acquire contraceptives from the organization, and then to go back for an abortion “when their advice and products fail.”

In a statement to CNA, Students for Life said that pro-life advocates have to “hold the line” on issues such as the Hyde Amendment and the defunding of Planned Parenthood.

“There is growing momentum across the country for commonsense limits on abortion and state laws such as protecting women’s lives and health with safety regulations,” Students for Life told CNA.

“People are ready to vote on human rights issue of our time, and that is what will happen when Roe v. Wade becomes an historical footnote.”

Another pro-life leader had a different approach to the upcoming legislative session.

Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood clinic director who now leads the pro-life ministry And Then There Were None, told CNA that she hopes “those legislators that pro-lifers elected to Congress should keep their promises to defund Planned Parenthood.”

“However, that’s not where And Then There Were None focuses our energy – if there are no more workers at abortion clinics, they will close and taxpayers will no longer need to worry about their money going to support these clinics,” said Johnson.

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Denver, Colo., Dec 4, 2018 / 04:48 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Bible is full of prophecies regarding future events, that typically come from God through angels or prophets.

In the book of Isaiah, the prophet predicts the coming of Christ when he tells Ah… […]