Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 19, 2023 / 13:30 pm (CNA).
The United States Catholic bishops are calling on the faithful to embrace “radical solidarity” with mothers who are facing difficult or challenging pregnancies this October, which the Church in the United States has observed as “Respect Life Month” since 1973.
Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge, the chairman of the United State Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, echoed St. John Paul II’s call for “radical solidarity,” which means, according to the bishop, “putting our love for them into action and putting their needs before our own.”
“This new mindset requires that we come alongside vulnerable mothers in profound friendship, compassion, and support for both them and their preborn children,” Burbidge wrote in a statement to Catholics for the 50th anniversary of Respect Life Month.
“It means addressing the fundamental challenges that lead an expectant mother to believe she is unable to welcome the child God has entrusted to her,” Burbidge continued. “This includes collective efforts within our dioceses, parishes, schools, and local communities; engagement in the public square; and pursuit of policies that help support both women and their preborn babies. It all the more so requires our individual, personal commitment to helping mothers in our own communities secure material, emotional, and spiritual support for embracing the gift of life.”
“Radical solidarity,” the bishop said, “means moving beyond the status quo and out of our comfort zones.”
The statement cites Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, which says solidarity “presumes the creation of a new mindset” and does not simply refer to “a few sporadic acts of generosity.”
Burbidge added that although “ending legalized abortion remains our preeminent priority,” it is not enough. Rather, he stressed that “the most immediate way to save babies and mothers from abortion is to thoroughly surround mothers in need with lifegiving support and personal accompaniment.”
The statement encourages Catholics to ask themselves whether they know of efforts in their area to help women who are pregnant or parenting in difficult circumstances, what their gifts and talents are, and how they can adjust their schedule or budget to help mothers in need and their children. It references the “Walking with Moms in Need” parish-based initiatives, which help parishes become welcoming places for mothers facing difficulties, as a possible option to get involved.
“Radical solidarity can be lived out in countless ways, including volunteering at your local pregnancy center; helping an expectant mother find stable housing; babysitting so a mom can work or take classes; providing encouragement and a listening ear to a mom without a support system; or speaking to your pastor about beginning Walking with Moms in Need at your parish,” Burbidge said.
The statement emphasizes that “the transformation of our culture also requires continual conversion of our own hearts, so that we can recognize in every person the face of Christ and place their needs before our own” and that this must be a focus, in addition to promoting pro-life laws and policies.
“This October, I invite all Catholics to think about building a culture of life in terms of radical solidarity,” Burbidge said. “We are the Church. Our prayers, witness, sacrifices, advocacy, and good works are needed now more than ever. We are the hands and feet of Christ in the world today and we each have a personal responsibility to care for one another.”
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Firebrand Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland, who has been subject to a Vatican investigation over his leadership style and right-wing comments on social media, has vowed in recent days not to resign or “voluntarily abandon” his diocese, even if Pope Francis asks him to do so.
But the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law leaves Strickland little to no room to resist if the pontiff demands his resignation, several prominent canon lawyers told NCR.
Canon law makes it clear that the pope has “supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power” in the Catholic Church, and that any final decree he issues is binding and cannot be appealed. That authority applies in cases where the pontiff decides to remove a sitting diocesan bishop, said the canonists.
“If you look at the canons on the authority of the pope, the pope has full supreme power over the church. He also has the authority to act within dioceses. The Roman pontiff has power over all particular churches,” Nicholas Cafardi, a civil and canon lawyer, told NCR.
Strickland, himself a canon lawyer who leads the Tyler Diocese, told Religion News Service on Sept. 12 that he would not willingly give up his diocesan post if Francis demands his resignation, which has been the subject of recent rumors in Texas and Rome.
Francis held a meeting on Sept. 9 with Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States, and Archbishop Robert Francis Prevost, the prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery of the Bishops, at which they may have discussed Strickland’s case.
Strickland told RNS that the Vatican had not asked him to resign, but he also signaled that he would resist any such request by declaring that “as a basic principle,” he could not surrender the “mandate given” to him by Pope Benedict XVI. The late pope appointed Strickland the bishop of Tyler in 2012.
“Of course that mandate can be rescinded by Pope Francis, but I cannot voluntarily abandon the flock that I have been given charge of as a successor of the apostles,” Strickland told RNS.
In Catholic theological and canonical matters, a bishop is indeed understood as one “succeeding to the place of the Apostles,” who possesses teaching and governing authority in his own right. Bishops, Cafardi said, are not akin to midlevel corporate branch managers.
“Bishops are successors of the apostles. That can’t be taken away from them,” said Cafardi, who suggested that Strickland appeared to be making more of a theological statement than staking out a canonical position in his comments to RNS.
While articulating a bishop’s exalted status in the Catholic Church, canon law also stipulates that a bishop’s authority to exercise his ministry and govern “can only be exercised in hierarchical communion with the head and members of the college” of bishops.
Canons 330-330 emphasize the pope’s primacy in all ecclesial matters, including over local churches. The pope’s primacy, canon law says, “strengthens and protects the proper, ordinary, and immediate power which bishops possess in the particular churches entrusted to their care.”
In addition, Francis issued a two-page decree in November 2014 pertaining to situations where bishops and Vatican officials renounce their offices. Article 5 in that decree stipulates that “in some circumstances, the competent Authority can decide that it is necessary to ask a bishop to present his resignation from pastoral office.”
In such a situation, the decree says that the bishop is to be informed of the reasons for the request and that his concerns be listened to “attentively,” in “a fraternal dialogue.”
“We’ve certainly seen bishops who raise questions, but they tend to be cautious and prudent. This kind of grandstanding with Bishop Strickland, this is something new,” said Charles Reid Jr., a canon lawyer and law professor at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.
In recent years, Strickland has strained his ties with Francis and other bishops. Posting on X (formerly known as Twitter), Strickland has accused the present pope of “undermining the Deposit of Faith,” and has shared several videos and essays attacking Francis.
Strickland has publicly defended priests disciplined by other bishops. He has also insinuated on X that certain Vatican officials have left the Catholic faith, specifically naming Cardinal Arthur Roche, the prefect for the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, the new prefect for the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith.
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Strickland’s leadership of his East Texas diocese is currently the subject of a Vatican investigation, known formally as an apostolic visitation. As part of that investigation, two bishops interviewed several witnesses over the course of several days in June.
A priest in the Tyler Diocese who was interviewed for the visitation told NCR that the bishops focused their inquiry on Strickland’s management of the diocese, including one question on what he believed Strickland understood “Deposit of Faith” to mean. The priest spoke to NCR on the condition of anonymity, for fear of retribution.
Said Cafardi: “You don’t ask someone to resign after an apostolic visitation unless something comes up.”
Strickland’s removal would not be without recent precedent. Since becoming pope in March 2013, Francis has removed other bishops, including at least two who refused to resign when they were asked to do so.
In March 2022, Francis “relieved” Bishop Daniel Fernández Torres from the pastoral care of the Diocese of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Fernández’s ouster followed a period where he publicly clashed with other Puerto Rican bishops on matters pertaining to COVID-19 vaccines and his opposition to a bill that would have banned so-called conversion therapy for LGBTQ people.
Fernández said he refused a Vatican request for his resignation, and said in a statement posted on the diocesan website that he felt “blessed to suffer persecution and slander for proclaiming the truth.”
In September 2013, Francis removed Paraguayan bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano due to what the Vatican called “serious pastoral concerns” in an effort to preserve “the unity of both the bishops and the faithful.”
Livieres also refused the Vatican’s request to resign, and claimed in a posted statement that he had been a victim of ideological persecution by more liberal Catholics, The New York Times reported when Livieres died in 2015. Livieres later sought to reconcile by expressing his “full communion” with Rome.
“The pope has full authority to remove a bishop. That’s just a fact,” said Robert Flummerfelt, a Las Vegas-based canon lawyer who told NCR that it is a “very extreme action to defy the Holy Father.”
“At the end of the day,” Flummerfelt said, “I think [Strickland] should operate as a bishop of the Catholic Church in full communion with its visible head, its visible source of unity, the Holy Father, and should honor the Holy Father’s request in this regard or try to find some way to resolve this.”
Rome Newsroom, Sep 19, 2023 / 11:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of two auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Chicago: Andrew P. Wypych and Joseph N. Perry.
Bishop Perry turned 75 in April. At age 75, Catholic bishops are required by canon law to submit their resignation to the pope, who chooses whether and when to accept it.
The reason for 68-year-old Wypych’s early resignation was not given. The Polish-born priest moved to Chicago in 1983 to be close to his mother, who had immigrated to the United States nine years prior after the death of Wypych’s father.
In a 2011 interview with Catholic New World, Wypych said the first years of his priesthood he couldn’t speak with his mother except by letter “because telephone connections between Poland and the United States were prohibited by the communist government.”
Born in Kazimierza Wielka, Poland, Wypych grew up as an only child after the death of his younger brother, Robert, in infancy.
He was incardinated in the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1989 to help minister to the Polish Catholic community in the city.
Wypych had been ordained a deacon by Archbishop Karol Wojtyla of Krakow just before the latter became Pope John Paul II. He was ordained a priest in 1979.
In 2011, Wypych was named an auxiliary bishop of Chicago. He served as episcopal vicar for the archdiocese’s Vicariate V. He was also national executive director of the Catholic League for Religious Assistance to Poland and Polonia since 2011.
Perry, episcopal vicar of Chicago’s Vicariate VI, was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Chicago in 1998.
Born in Chicago, he was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in 1975.
Perry has a licentiate in canon law from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. From 2004, he was vice president of the board of the Black Catholic Congress and chairman of the USCCB committee on African American Catholics.
The Archdiocese of Chicago serves approximately 2.2 million Catholics. It is led by Cardinal Blase Cupich assisted by six auxiliary bishops.
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Radio personality Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate on the losing end of Democrat Adams’s landslide mayoral victory in 2021, has played the role of outside agitator at multiple rallies in the neighborhood, trying to stoke fears that the migrants will be terrorists.
In one rally outside Floyd Bennett Field, he recalled the 1993 and 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. “We seem to forget and now we are allowing terrorists to cross our border,” he continued. “Their number one location to strike and try to clear the table for a third time is New York City. And we have made it so easy for them.” All the terrorists have to do is to “cross over the Rio Grande…. Who meets them on the American side?” he asked.
“Eric Adams?” someone shouted.
“Nope,” Sliwa replied. “Catholic Charities, which is a racket.” Sliwa, who spent several of his high-school years at a prestigious Jesuit school, Brooklyn Prep, castigated the church agency for carrying out its mission of welcoming the stranger.
Local Democratic elected officials in Brooklyn have shared the stage with Sliwa. My Assembly representative, Jaime Williams, was especially enthusiastic. “Our mayor said it will destroy our city!” she shouted at a rally. Williams, herself an immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago and a former project director at Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens with a master’s in social work from Fordham, declared herself “sick and fed up,” then led the crowd in a chant of “Close our borders.”
One of the most telling comments I’ve heard about the controversy came from Anne Williams-Isom, deputy mayor for health and human services and a Fordham alumna who held a chair in child-welfare studies at the university. In one of her periodic briefings, she noted that resources had to be set aside to provide mental-health services, not only for asylum seekers traumatized by their journey, but for the employees who experienced secondary trauma while trying to counsel them to find jobs and housing.
In observing the immigration courts, I’ve noticed that so many of the people who work in this terrible system are coping with some degree of trauma. It comes from hearing asylum seekers set out their stories, in harrowing and often credible detail. I think of the case of a Guatemalan woman who I saw cry through most of a two-hour hearing as she described how a failed relationship with a man who had political influence led to years of threats and beatings, and then escalated into blackmail threats aimed at her children, which prompted her to flee. I don’t think anyone disbelieved her, but her sufferings didn’t fit easily into the legal categories for asylum. Her petition was denied.
Defense and government lawyers, judges, court staff, caseworkers: many seem burnt out. And now the same is happening to some of the city workers who are trying, person-to-person, to undo the knots of the U.S. immigration system. It’s a system that, over time, shocks the conscience.
As for Mayor Adams, he would lead us to believe his conscience is clear. “When I’m talking about making sure that we handle the asylum-seekers crisis, that’s based on my faith,” he said in an interview with WINS Radio’s Susan Richards. “And so instead of saying, ‘He’s making these tough decisions because he’s inhumane,’ no, I’m making them because I’m compassionate, because I care about people, because that’s how I was raised: to care about people.”
A religious order priest serving in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has been arrested and charged with possessing hundreds of images of child pornography.
Fr. Rodolfo Martinez-Guevara, 38, a member of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, was taken into custody Sept. 13 in Long Beach, California, by members of the Ventura County Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force.
Martinez-Guevara is currently held in Ventura County’s main jail, with bail set at $750,000. He has been charged with felony possession of more than 600 images and videos of child pornography — including material depicting minors under the age of 12 — the depicted victims being mostly boys. The priest’s arraignment was scheduled for Sept. 15.
Search warrants also were served at the order’s formation house in Long Beach, where the priest resides, by the task force with the assistance of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. The formation house is adjacent to St. Maria Goretti Church and the parish school. The church and school are named for a 20th-century 11-year-old Italian girl who was brutally murdered in the course of an attempted sexual assault by an adult male. Considered a martyr by the Catholic Church, St. Maria is considered a patron saint for victims of rape and other crimes.
Investigators believe there could be additional victims and are urging anyone with information regarding the priest to contact their local police department to make a report.
In a Sept. 14 statement, Missionaries of the Holy Spirit provincial superior Fr. Pedro Arteaga announced that he had removed Martinez-Guevara from ministry and withdrawn the priest’s faculties.
In a statement emailed to OSV News Sept. 18, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said that Martinez-Guevara “is not a priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles” but of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit order who until now had “faculties to minister in the Archdiocese.”
The statement confirmed the priest “has been removed from ministry by the Archdiocese and his order.”
“The Archdiocese stands against any sexual misconduct and is resolute in our support for victim-survivors of any misconduct. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to ensuring that parishes, schools and ministries are safe places for everyone in our community,” the archdiocese said in its statement.
The archdiocese also noted in its statement that Martinez-Guevara had served “as a transitional deacon and newly ordained priest” at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Oxnard from July 1, 2021, to Sept. 30, 2022.
OSV News also asked the archdiocese Sept. 18 if it received any complaints about the priest during his time at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Oxnard but did not receive an immediate response.
Arteaga said in his statement the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, which received safe environment accreditation from Praesidium, had “notified all the corresponding authorities and begun an internal investigation” that “includes transparent work with our Independent Review Board.”
According to Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko, Martinez-Guevara became the focus of an investigation after several reports were made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. In April 2023, the Ventura County task force launched its own investigation.
OSV News has reached out to Nasarenko’s office for additional details on Martinez-Guevara’s arrest but did not receive an immediate response.
In a message sent to participants in a Vatican conference on the 60th anniversary of “Pacem in Terris”, Pope Francis renews his calls for nations to eliminate nuclear weapons and use ‘conventional’ arms only in self-defense.
By Sr. Nina Benedikta Krapić, VMZ
Pope Francis sent a message on Tuesday to participants in an International Conference organized by the Academy of Social Sciences and the Peace Research Institute Oslo to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the publication of Pacem in Terris, the landmark encyclical of Pope St. John XXIII.
In his message addressed to Cardinal Peter Turkson, the Chancellor of the Academy, the Pope said the conference is taking place “as our world continues to be in the grip of a third world war fought piecemeal, and, in the tragic case of the conflict in Ukraine, not without the threat of recourse to nuclear weapons.”
He compared the present moment with the one that proceeded the publication of Pacem in Terris, when in October 1962, the Cuban missile crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear destruction.
Pope Francis encouraged the Conference to devote its reflections to those parts of Pacem in Terris that discuss disarmament and the pathways to lasting peace.
He urged participants to analyze current military and technology-based threats to peace, as well as disciplined ethical reflection “on the grave risks associated with the continuing possession of nuclear weapons, the urgent need for renewed progress in disarmament, and the development of peace-building initiatives.”
The Pope repeated his statement from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in 2019, when he said that “the use of atomic energy for purposes of war is immoral, just as the possessing of nuclear weapons is immoral,” adding that “a world free of nuclear arms is possible and necessary.”
At the same time, Pope Francis noted that the world must not let the threat of nuclear warfare overshadow the use of so-called “conventional” weapons in modern warfare.
Even conventional arms, he said, “should be used for defensive purposes only and not directed to civilian targets.”
“It is my hope that sustained reflection on this issue will lead to a consensus that such weapons, with their immense destructive power, will not be employed in a way that foreseeably causes ‘superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering’, to use the words of the St. Petersburg Declaration,” said Pope Francis.
In conclusion, the Pope recalled the words of his predecessor, St. John XXIII, at the conclusion of Pacem in Terris, as he prayed that, “by God’s power and inspiration, all peoples may embrace each other as brothers and sisters, and that the peace for which they long may ever flourish and reign among them.”
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In a new statement the Bishops’ Conference of Haiti (CEH) urges for immediate action to stop the rampant criminal violence in the Caribbean island facing one of the worst crises in its history.
By Lisa Zengarini
As gang violence continues to grip Haiti, the Catholic bishops of the island nation have launched yet another appeal calling for action from Haitian authorities and the international community to stop what they describe as a “genocide” against “defenceless” people.
“We, the bishops of the Catholic Church of Haiti, echo the ‘cry of an entire people faced with abandonment’ and experience with bitterness and pain the suffering of our people caused by the blind violence of heavily armed bandits”, reads a strongly worded statement which calls into question “the cynicism and the indifference of political leaders, and the hesitation of the international community.”
One of the poorest countries in the world, Haiti has faced rampant criminal violence for years. It has also suffered from periodic natural disasters and a long-standing political deadlock made worse by the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021.
The statement recalls that for at least four years Haiti has been going through “one of the longest and most lethal socio-political and security crises in its history”, with armed gangs taking control of many areas of the country.
Gangs have grown more powerful since President Moïse’s assassination, and they are estimated to control up to 80% of the capital Port-au-Prince.
Killings, turf wars, extortions and kidnappings, also targeting priests and religious happen on a daily basis. According to recent UN statistics, gang-related violence this year has claimed more than 2,500 lives, with over 1,000 injured, while nearly 1,000 Haitians have been kidnapped.
Gangs are also involved in horrifying cases of sexual violence, including collective rape and mutilation, perpetrated to spread fear, punish rivals, and target women and girls under their territorial control.
The latest wave of violence has also resulted in the forced displacement of over 10,000 people who have sought refuge in makeshift camps and host families.
“A defenceless population” is held hostage by “the ruthless violence of the gangs and their allies, and blocked by the inaction and complicit silence of the Government” the bishops decry in their statement, recalling that these crimes are accompanied, among other things, by attacks on churches and places of worship of various religions, which can no longer be used.
“A low-intensity war against peaceful and unarmed people is raging across the country.”
Frustrated by lack of security and functioning government, some Haitian citizens have decided to take justice in their hands by organizing “self-defence groups” targeting suspected gang members. More than 350 people have been brutally killed or lynched since the uprising began the UN has recently reported.
According to the Haitian bishops, in the face the barbarism that is taking hold in the country, “the solution is not to remain passive.” They therefore call on all the people of God and ecclesial institutions to react, and invite priests, religious and laypeople to organize a novena of prayer on the occasion of the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel, to free the country from gang violence : “Wherever we are our solidarity, our closeness, our prayers, our exhortations as citizens and as a people can contribute to this”.
The bishops also express their “hopeful support” to all efforts towards a peaceful solution of the crisis, reiterating to the world that “this genocide must be stopped”.
To this end the call upon those currently in power “to take strong and concrete steps towards true reconciliation here and now in Haiti” and urge public authorities and other sectors of Haitian society “to put an end to their complicity” with armed gangs, and to contribute to building political and social dialogue “on the basis of the real needs of the population.”
In October 2022, the Haitian government requested the immediate deployment of a foreign armed force to stem gang violence. So far only Kenya has offered to lead the multinational force, with the support of the UN and the US, and in August a delegation of Kenyan top officials visited Haiti as part of a reconnaissance mission.
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The Holy See Press Office presents the official schedule for Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Marseille, a city “enriched” by a vast array of cultures.
By Joseph Tulloch
Matteo Bruni, Director of the Holy See Press Office, on Tuesday presented the official schedule for Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to Marseille.
The Pope will be in the southern French city from Friday to Saturday of this week, and will attend the concluding session of the Mediterranean Meetings, a church-led initiative aiming to build community amongst the region’s various peoples, religions, and cultures.
According to the official schedule, released on Tuesday, Pope Francis will depart from Rome’s Fiumicino airport at 14:35 on Friday afternoon, arriving at 16:15 in Marseille.
After an official welcome from the France’s Prime Minister, he will head to Marseille’s Basilica of Notre Dame de-la-Garde, where he will pray first with the clergy of the local diocese, and then with a group of professionals from various organisations – Stella Maris, Caritas Gap- Briançon, and the Association de secours en mer – dedicated to the pastoral care of seafarers, migrants, and refugees.
The following day, Saturday, 23 September, he will participate in the final session of the Mediterranean Meetings, which bring together bishops and young people from North Africa, the Middle East, and southern Europe. He will then meet privately with French President Emmanuel Macron
After lunch, Pope Francis will travel to Marseille’s Vélodrome stadium, where he will celebrate Mass for the general public. He will then depart, arriving in Rome at 20:50.
Presenting the Pope’s schedule to journalists in the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, the Pope’s official spokesperson, noted that this would be the Holy Father’s 44th Apostolic Journey abroad.
Bruni stressed that the trip ought not to be understood as a visit to France, but rather as a visit to the city of Marseille. The same, he noted, was true of the Pope’s visit to the city Strasbourg in 2014, where he visited the European Parliament – both visits, he said, have an “international” character.
Marseilles, Bruni went on, is particularly notable in this regard, since it has been “enriched” over the course of its long history by a huge variety cultures. Founded as a Greek colony around the year 600 BC, over the years it fell into the hands of Romans, Ligures, barbarians, Arabs, and Saracens, and in recent years gone on to become a melting pot of different cultures, and one of France’s most ethnically diverse cities.
The Vatican urged the international community to press for a “special statute” to guarantee religious freedom in the city of Jerusalem in any agreements regarding a peace deal between Israel and Palestine.
Addressing a ministerial-level meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York Sept. 18, Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, Vatican foreign minister, called for an internationally guaranteed statute on Jerusalem to ensure “the equal rights and duties of the faithful of the three monotheistic religions (Christians, Jews and Muslims), the absolute guarantee of freedom of religion and of access to and worship in the holy places, and respect for the status quo regime, where it applies.”
“To this end, the specific multireligious character, spiritual dimension and the unique identity and cultural heritage of Jerusalem must be preserved and promoted,” he told a group of foreign ministers from some 50 nations.
The meeting launched working groups from the European Union, the League of Arab States and Jordan to create incentives for Israel and Palestine to strike a peace deal. A joint statement released by participants after the meeting urged contributors to the “peace supporting package” to work toward “ensuring the historic status quo of Jerusalem’s holy sites” which includes the role of Jordan in managing Islamic and Christian holy sites in the city.
Gallagher said that establishing guidelines for the administration of Jerusalem is a “central point of contention that needs to be addressed in order to achieve a stable and lasting peace” between Israel and Palestine, and he lamented the “acts of intolerance” in the city “recently perpetrated by some Jewish extremists against Christians.”
“Any such actions must be clearly condemned by all governments, first and foremost the Israeli government, as well as prosecuted by the law and prevented in the future through education in fraternity,” he said.
In July, Israeli President Isaac Herzog denounced increasing violence against Christians throughout the country and particularly in Jerusalem, calling attacks against Christians “a true disgrace.”
“The Holy See,” Gallagher said during his address, “sees Jerusalem not as a place of confrontation and division, but as one of encounter where Christians, Jews and Muslims can live together with respect and mutual goodwill.”
The archbishop recalled that Pope Francis “has repeatedly called on Israelis and Palestinians to engage in direct dialogue,” and that the Israeli and Palestinian presidents met at the Vatican in 2014 to pray for peace together and planted a symbolic olive tree in the Vatican gardens.
“It seems to me that there have not been any more similar high-level meetings,” he noted. “Nevertheless, we continue to water that olive tree, waiting for the presidents of both states, accompanied by their governments, to come again to reap the fruits of peace.”
As Caritas Nigeria celebrates its 13th anniversary in Abuja, the local Church’s humanitarian outfit highlights its efforts to assist people and hosts an international conference on Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato si’.
By Sr. Titilayo Aduloju, SSMA
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) founded the non-profit Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria, known as Caritas Nigeria, in 2010, to provide for the fundamental needs of people, regardless of faith, country-of-origin, or ethnicity.
“Caritas”, a Latin word that means ‘love’ or ‘charity’, was established in Nigeria to coordinate the social development initiatives of the Catholic Church in Nigeria on a national scale.
The organization is celebrating its 13th anniversary with an international conference held in Abuja, on 19-22 September, reflecting on Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato si’.
Fr. Peter Babangida Audu, the Deputy Executive Secretary of Caritas Nigeria, spoke to Vatican News about the organization’s work and achievements, as it celebrates its 13 years of existence in Nigeria.
“Celebrating Caritas’ 13th anniversary in Nigeria means the world, and to be really honest, it means everything, although 13 years is not that many compared to organizations like Caritas Internationalis and others who have been there for many years,” Fr. Babangida said.
Fr. Babangida believes that it is not the number of years that matters but the little impact they have been able to make in the lives of people and the joy it brings to them.
He said the mission of Caritas Nigeria is “bringing the fullness of life to people in our environment. This is to see that everybody is happy and living a fulfilled life.”
“For us, it means a lot,” he added. “We are grateful to God that we have this opportunity to render services and that we have been able to successfully implement some projects. And what leads us through all these is the spirit of love, the passion we have, and working as a team in Caritas Nigeria, setting up those structures.”
During these 13 years, Caritas Nigeria has been able to occupy the space of development and make an impact in terms of development and humanitarian interventions.
Activities marking the celebration began on Tuesday, 19 September, with an opening Mass celebrated by the president of Caritas Africa, Msgr. Pierre Cibambo, who is currently in Nigeria for the statutory meeting of the Caritas Africa Commission.
Other Programmes include reaching out to the prisoners at Suleja Prison in Abuja to help them leave prison at the end of their sentences, so that financial difficulties do not impede their release.
The organization is also providing medical assistance to residents of Abuja. “We have a group of medical professionals prepared to perform this service,” Fr. Babangida said.
Caritas Nigeria will seek to highlight the empowerment of women and young people on Wednesday by involving them in projects that strengthen their capacities and help them realize the realities of their life.
Then, on Thursday, Caritas Nigeria will host an international conference that will focus on Laudato si’.
Fr. Babangida said the conference hopes “to encourage people to care for the environment, to take responsibility for the environment in which we live. Mother Earth needs help.”
In order to achieve this, Caritas Nigeria will research the issue of plastic recycling and tree planting as already urged by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria in February 2023.
On Friday, the 13th anniversary celebration will come to a close with a Mass of Thanksgiving and a gallery walk during which Caritas Nigeria will highlight its work in the country.
According to Fr. Babangida, Caritas Nigeria works in accordance with the several theme areas of Caritas, including health and HIV, good governance, humanitarian relief, and emergency situations, as well as livelihood and agriculture.
In all these areas, said Fr. Babangida, Caritas Nigeria has been able to achieve great things.
Listen to our interview with Fr. Peter Babangida Audu
In the future, “we want to see that Caritas Nigeria is better positioned to engage the space,” said Fr. Babangida. “We must work with several sectors to do this and develop our capacity.”
Given the size of the project, Caritas Nigeria hopes to continue to network and collaborate with national and international NGOs in order to serve local residents, in a variety of situations.
Fr. Babangida concluded by noting that Caritas Nigeria would like to hire professionals in the coming years who would provide important services, especially to help young people develop various professional skills.
In what is thought to have been the largest climate change rally since 2019, an estimated crowd of as many as 75,000 demonstrators from some 700 organizations and activist groups paraded through the streets of New York City Sept. 17 in the “March to End Fossil Fuels.”
Colorful banners, flags and placards — some professionally printed, some handmade, but all urging immediate change — accompanied the sea of protesters as they processed through midtown Manhattan.
Among them were numerous Catholic groups — including Catholic Climate Covenant; Laudato Si’ Movement; Metro NY Catholic Climate Movement; Altagracia; Pax Christi; Franciscan Action Network; Sisters of Charity; Sisters of Mercy; and Iona University students — contributing their voices to a growing chorus of global alarm that has been energized by the witness of Pope Francis’ outspoken climate declarations.
On Oct. 4 — the feast of St. Francis, the patron saint of ecology — the pontiff publishes a follow-up to his landmark 2015 environmental encyclical, “Laudato Si’.”
Scheduled to closely coincide with the United Nations’ Sept. 20 “Climate Ambition Summit,” the March to End Fossil Fuels aimed to capture the attention not just of American politicians — and in particular, President Joe Biden — but also world leaders descending upon the U.N.’s New York headquarters for the summit.
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The “Climate Ambition” gathering — convened by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres — is designed “to accelerate action by governments, business, finance, local authorities and civil society, and to hear from ‘first movers and doers,'” according to a U.N. statement.
“(Guterres) put that word ‘ambition’ in there because he has said — looking at what’s happening around the world and how we’re already experiencing climate change — that if countries are not coming with a plan to reduce their emissions, they shouldn’t come to the summit,” said Nancy Lorence, chapter coordinator for Metro New York Catholic Climate Movement. “So that was a pretty strong statement.”
Lorence explained, “The whole idea of the rally is to also raise up the voice of civil society and say to the leaders that are coming to the summit, ‘Yes — get going. We need you to act on this crisis — and we need you to consider it a crisis.”
Marchers also called upon Biden to halt fossil fuel expansion and extraction, including the Willow Project in the Arctic, leases in the Gulf of Mexico and the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Virginia and West Virginia.
Fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas are considered key contributors to global warming.
The U.N. has stated that “the world needs immediate and deep reductions in emissions now, and over the course of the next three decades, to limit global warming to 1.5°C degrees above pre-industrial levels and prevent the worst impacts.”
The summer of 2023 repeatedly grabbed news headlines with a succession of climate disasters, including historic heatwaves in the U.S., Europe and Middle East; ravaging wildfires in Canada and Maui; and devastating flooding in China, Brazil and Libya.
Prior to the march — and following morning Mass at St. Paul the Apostle Church on West 59th Street — Catholic Climate Covenant’s Youth Mobilization program, led by Kayla Jacobs, held a press conference on the steps of St. Paul featuring six young Catholics who shared their concerns with a gathered crowd of supporters.
“I believe it is our collective responsibility — especially as young people — to engage in conversations and bring awareness about the environmental issues that affect not only our generation, but generations to come,” said Zoe George, a high school senior at New York’s Dominican Academy.
“While climate change is a complex issue, what is not complex is its impact on vulnerable communities. The poor are often the hardest hit by climate-related disasters, including the risk of extreme weather patterns, food scarcity and health issues,” George commented. “These communities often lack the resources and infrastructure to protect themselves. Therefore, climate change is not just an environmental challenge, but a humanitarian crisis.”
Daniel Bajada — a uniformed Scout and class of 2024 Regis High School student — echoed George’s concerns for the poor.
“While these recent wildfires kept us New Yorkers inside for a few days, climate tragedies in the Global South force people out of their homes, displacing millions and forcing the most vulnerable to suffer,” Bajada said. “As the youth, this world will soon be ours to live in — we must spearhead the movement to defend our planet.”
One march participant — Luke Henkel, 33, North American programs coordinator for Laudato Si’ Movement — biked almost 1,100 miles to New York City from his Chicago hometown.
The trip — which Henkel said he viewed as a pilgrimage — took 18 days.
“Looking at a map, I’m just like, ‘Wait — I did that, on a bike?,'” Henkel told OSV News. “It feels unreal.”
Henkel set up an Instagram page for his journey — “Pedal for the Planet” — which was flooded with messages from well-wishers.
“I just wanted to do a zero-pollution bike trip,” said Henkel, who at one point found himself biking on an abandoned New York City street — only moments later to realize it had been emptied of traffic to accommodate Biden’s motorcade, which soon swept by.
“This is my way of saying, ‘This is how we can transform our culture.’ I would love for us to be able to get around without polluting,” Henkel added. “For me, I was just trying to impress on people that you should not go to this march expecting all these problems to go away tomorrow. … Just find what’s in your heart, and go do that. Don’t worry about the rest; don’t try to save the world. Just pay attention to what God is saying.”
“That’s what gives me hope,” said Lorence. “When I see young people that are coming out very concerned about this, and willing to do something about it; willing to invest some time and energy into calling for a new kind of reality.”
After the press conference, the assembled crowd joined the larger contingent of marchers on 53rd Street for interfaith prayer.
“We are subsidizing what is destroying us,” Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and now an active climate campaigner, told the pre-march press multitude, as she denounced the estimated $7 trillion the International Monetary Fund reports governments worldwide spent in the previous year to drill for oil and gas.
When the march concluded at First Avenue and 49th Street, a rally stirred the protesters to continued action. Speakers included U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who told the crowd “the way we create urgency is to have people around the world in the streets.”
Millions more also marched in other countries and cities, including Austin, Texas.
“This is a moral issue,” said Linda Sandish, a Laudato Si’ Movement Creation Care Team Leader at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Austin who helped organize “Rally for the Climate Emergency!” on the steps of the Texas Capitol.
Over a hundred activists turned out in punishing heat to hear speakers including U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas.
Sandish cautioned against partisan interpretations of the climate crisis.
“It’s not a political issue, other than our politicians need to do something about it,” Sandish emphasized. “It’s wrong to be killing our earth.”
Our Editorial Director speaks with the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, about the upcoming Synod General Assembly.
By Andrea Tornielli
“Synodality is the modus operandi of ecclesial communion; it is participation also on governance issues and decisions, on aspects of the life of the Church. The Synod on synodality is a synod on how ecclesial communion, the journeying together of all the members of the people of God, is lived in an evangelical way.”
In an interview with Vatican Media, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, summarizes with these words the focal point of the forthcoming synod, pointing out the connection between the synodal process that the Church is currently experiencing and that of 1985 dedicated to the theme of ecclesial communion.
This emphasis helps us understand how communion and striving for unity – ut unum sint – come before different points of view, with the hope that it will also determine the way of presenting and discussing them.
Q: Your Eminence, the first of the two Synod General Assemblies on synodality is about to begin: what kind of results do you expect to emerge from this common work?
Cardinal Schönborn: Many things can happen in this synod, we don’t know. Pope Francis has put us on a rather unique path, that of listening and discernment. T
hese are things that always need to be done, they are elementary things for the life of the Church, but the Pope has placed a much more explicit emphasis on the question of discernment: what does the Lord show us? What does He want for us, for the Church today? Therefore, the synod is an attempt to deepen, to learn, to experience this path of discernment.
Q: In the Church of Vienna, a few years ago, you celebrated a diocesan synod. What happened?
I have to correct you a little, because it was not a diocesan synod. The diocesan synod has very precise rules established in Canon Law. I had the idea, and we shared it with many, of taking another path, that of diocesan assemblies. We have held five of them, each with 1,400, 1,500 delegates coming from parishes, institutions, orders, from all the realities of our diocese.
The guiding idea was the one that Pope Francis mentioned several times, that of the Council of the Apostles, which we read about in the Acts. I proposed to the diocese that we talk to each other in an orderly way about what we have experienced in our journey with the Lord, what God has made us perceive in our lives, in our parishes.
Q: What struck you most about that process?
The methodology was that of the Acts of the Apostles. At that time there was a problem, that of pagans who had become Christians: should they be baptized or not? And if they were baptized, did they also have to take on Jewish law or was the faith in Christ enough? To resolve this dramatic issue, they listened to experiences and made some discernment. Peter spoke, then Paul and Barnabas spoke, and finally the whole assembly listened and prayed. In the end they came to this conclusion: “The Holy Spirit and we have decided…”.
When Pope Francis asked me to give the speech for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the synod in 2015, in the Paul VI Hall, before his famous speech on synodality, I had to give a summary of what the synod is and I spoke first of all about the experience of the primitive Church. And I think that this path – Pope Francis has often repeated this – the path of telling, listening and discerning is good for the synodal process we are experiencing now.
Q: What was the outcome of these diocesan assemblies?
What we have tried to do in the diocese has certainly deepened the communion between us and encouraged pastoral initiatives. We did not vote, we did not produce resolutions or publish texts: we only shared the life of the Church in the light of our experiences. This was the method of these five diocesan assemblies. It was a very positive experience, in a difficult time, because of the tragedy of abuse and the crisis of the Church’s credibility. But we truly had a strong experience of faith and communion and this certainly helped us to move forward without becoming despondent.
Q: “Synod on Synodality”: this title that may appear far from people’s sensitivity, a somewhat technical title. What do you think?
I participated in the 1985 synod not as a bishop but as a theologian, I was one of the theologians who collaborated in this synod which was held twenty years after the close of the Council and the theme was communion, communio, an essential word of Vatican II. That synod also did not have a specific theme but was almost a synod on communion: communio, as an essential feature of the Church, as a characteristic of ecclesial life. And I think that the Synod on synodality is something similar. Synodality is very simple: it is the modus operandi of ecclesial communion, participation also on governance issues and decisions, on aspects of the life of the Church. The one on synodality is a synod on how ecclesial communion, the journeying together of all the members of the People of God are lived in an evangelical way.” Of course, it can be said that the most synods after 1965 have had a more specific theme: for example penance or the family, as we had in 2014-15. But I think that this theme of synodality is a further step in the reception of the Second Vatican Council, communio and the modus operandi of communio, synodality. We must not forget that the journey together of synodality does not only occur in the contemporary world, but also in history. Therefore, synodality also means remembering the journey of those who preceded us in the faith.
Q: Pope Francis insists on underlining that the synod is made of prayer, listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit, mutual listening and discernment. And that it is different from the works of a parliament – equally positive – which are subject to the logic of majority and minority.
You said that the work of a parliament is a positive thing. We are grateful for all the countries that have a parliament, a real parliament, a parliamentary democracy. I would like to add a small note. Of course, parliament does not explicitly invoke the Holy Spirit: in some parliaments there is a tradition of prayer, they are rare but they do exist. But I think of that stupendous speech by Pope Benedict to the parliament in London, where he showed that even in a parliamentary democracy there is some form of discernment… He had spoken of the conscience of Thomas Moore who had to take a position opposed to that of the king, but first of all he had talked about a decision of the Parliament London, that of the abolition of slavery, showing how progress in the awareness that slavery is contrary to human dignity had taken place in parliamentary discussions. For this reason, I would like to add a positive word about the work of parliament. Although the synod is certainly not a parliament, this does not mean that the work of the parliament is not a good thing.
Q: Can you explain this difference between synod and parliament?
The difference is that synodality, life in the Church, is always a search for unanimity, not in the parliamentary sense that everyone must vote in the same way – as happens in dictatorships or communism – but as a tension towards unity. It is listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit who goes forward in the search for truth, in the search for good until reaching almost unanimity. This is what the councils and even the synods that I have known have done: the rule of the synod is that there are votes, but these must obtain two thirds of the votes. Let us also not forget that the synod is consultative, it is not a legislative body. It serves for listening, common listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit. For this reason, the Pope wanted both for the synod on the family and for this one on synodality, two stages or several stages, local, continental, etc. And in the end two meetings of the synodal assembly because it is a path towards a unanimity which must always be ut sin, cor unum et anima una, as they say of the primitive Church: they were of one heart and one soul. This harmony is the sign of the Holy Spirit.
Q: What does “listening to the voice of the Spirit”? concretely mean?
The Pope taught us – and we already practice successfully – the method of spiritual conversation. What does it consist of? It is listening to each other with respect, with acceptance, to attain discernment, to understand what God’s will is. And I was impressed by the facts that in the document Querida Amazonia Pope Francis proposed an echo of this to the Synod on the Amazon , in which I was able to participate. In certain points he said: here it seems to me that discernment has been lacking, more discernment is needed. How do we know that we have made the necessary discernment to arrive at a decision? This is certainly the art of the Pope’s governance, but also of the harmony of the synod, of the synod members. And therefore, I think we will live a strong experience of being Church in this listening process. Of course, on many questions and topics the list of issues is long and there will be a lot of time to dedicate to discussion and exchange on this or that issue, but always in the perspective of listening to the Spirit.
Q: Certainly, a new feature of this synod was the attempt to involve and listen broadly to the local Churches, involving the communities and even those who have distanced themselves from the Church. Is this method important and, if so, why?
Yes, it is important to also listen to the voice of those who are not “inside”, who have moved away, because this echo allows us to better discern. And then listen to the voice of the faithful. Just read Saint John Henry Newman’s famous little book on listening to the faithful in matters of faith. This little book written at the time of the First Vatican Council is very important for our situation in the search for synodality.
Q: What does listening to the faith of the People of God mean?
It is the sensus fidei. Of course, this is not revealed in statistics. If we don’t do this work of listening to the sensus fidei we are not listening to the Holy Spirit, because what lives and is perceived in the sensus fidei of the People of God, is the crux, the heart of the faith of the Church. I think of a personal experience, when I was a young theology student and we were all taught about the ideas of Bultmann and Entmythologisierung (demythologisation, ed.). It was a radical questioning of the Christian faith. When I came home, I spoke about it to my mother who listened to me and after a while she looked at me in a somewhat surprised way and simply told me this: ‘But if Jesus is not the son of the living God, then our faith is empty.’ I have always said that what my mother taught me was to listen to the People of God, to the faith of the simple, the faith of the People of God. This is why Pope Francis’ insistence on popular religiosity, on the faith of the people – an insistence that we already find in the Aparecida document – is really important. I remember that famous sermon by then-Cardinal Ratzinger during the crisis with Hans Küng, when he said: theology that does not humbly put itself at the service, to listen to the faith of the People of God, is of no use, it is gnosis but it is not a service to the faith. Therefore, I think that the method of involving a large number of faithful and also people who have distanced themselves from the Church is important for discernment.
Q: Another characteristic of this synod is the participation of non-bishop members, with the inclusion of a significant number of lay faithful, and in particular women. How does the physiognomy of the synod change and what, in your opinion, will the consequences be?
There have always been lay people, men and women, who participated as experts, as listeners in the synods of the past 50 years. Now for the first time a good number of lay people, men and women, are full members of the synod. I think that the physiognomy of the synod does not essentially change, because it is certainly a synod of bishops, the majority are still bishops, because the synodal tradition is first and foremost that of bishops of a region, of a nation, etc. meeting, but this participation of lay people is certainly important to improve listening. I have participated in a good number of synods and I remember interventions by men and women, lay people, experts, listeners, who had a profound impact on the proceedings. This time we go one step further to involve these voices. There will still be experts in this synod, there will still be delegates from the other fraternal Churches. I think it’s simply enriching. We must then remember the Synod created by Paul VI more than 55 years ago: it was conceived as the voice of the episcopate of the universal Church gathering around the Successor of Peter. We know all too well that there is voting and very significant voting, but these votes are an expression of the sensus fidelium, also of the expectations of the People of God which are ultimately transmitted to the Pope for his further discernment. This new participation does not essentially change the meaning of a post-conciliar synod.
Q: A consequence of this broad participation has been the inclusion in the Synodal Instrumentum laboris of many topics that have been discussed for decades. For example, the request for specific reforms for greater participation of lay people and women in the life of the Church, or to rethink some issues related to moral theology. How much will they weigh in the Synod?
I couldn’t give an answer to this question, we’ll see. What I perceived is that the continental synods and also the echo of several episcopal conferences in the world certainly insist on the question of the participation of the laity in the life of the Church. This was already a central theme in the Second Vatican Council. The participation of the laity is at the heart of the Council’s intentions and there is still much to learn and to do. Saint John XXIII had already said that the theme of women in the life of the Church is one of the signs of the times, it is one of the great questions emerging throughout the world and this theme will certainly be present. However, I am a little skeptical about the fact that the list of hotly debated topics, especially in the secularized Western world, are so central for the entire Church. I’ll give you an example. At the synod on the Amazon there was strong pressure from certain groups to reach a decision on the viri probati, the priestly ordination of married men. Maybe I will be criticized for remembering it, but it was said at the synod. Some have wondered: how is it possible that there are as many as 1,200 priests from Colombia, a country that has many priestly vocations, living in the United States and Canada? Why don’t a hundred or two hundred of them go to the Amazon? The problem of the lack of priests would be solved. So I think that sometimes we need a little more discernment and also honesty in seeing the complexity of the issues. In this sense, I am confident that the synod will be a beautiful and powerful occasion, an opportunity to discern together on these issues.
Q: Secularization is advancing in Western societies, the transmission of the faith that in the past took place in the family seems to have been interrupted. How do we go back to announcing the Gospel in these contexts? How can the next Synod help in this?
You said, the transmission of faith took place in the family. It is true that if it does not happen in the family, the transmission of the faith is not impossible but it is much more difficult. For this reason, the double synod of 2014-15 on the family is very important for the transmission of the faith. I confide that the transmission of faith happens and happens because it is the work of the Lord. It is the Lord who calls, who invites, it is the Lord who acts in the hearts of people, who attracts as Jesus said: ‘When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.’ This attraction of Jesus is active throughout the world but there is also a need for those who help to grasp this call, this work of the Lord. Of course, secularization is a great challenge. But, once again, I recall Benedict XVI who said surprising things about secularized society. I remember that when he went to the Czech Republic, a very very secularized country, he said: here there are also opportunities for the Holy Spirit to act, to be operational. And this is true. Therefore, secularization is not only a disadvantage, it also has a positive side, in the sense that personal existential questions are raised in a perhaps more direct way. And therefore, the Lord is active. This is the Gospel: it is a force of life, it inspires life and, in this sense, I am confident that this synod, despite all the criticisms that are already being made, will be a step towards carrying forward the communion of the Church.
The Californian city of Los Angeles will host the first US stage of the Pelota de Trapo Program, which promotes civic participation in local communities through sport.
By Christopher Wells
Scholas Occurentes, an International Organization of Pontifical Right aimed at creating and promoting the culture of encounter, has announced the US launch of the Pelota de Trapo Program in Los Angeles.
The Program is named for the humble rag balls used by poor children around the world for their soccer games. Pope Francis himself played football with a pelota de trapo as a young boy; later, seeing children playing with the makeshift balls inspired Pope Francis to develop the Program internationally.
In a press release issued on Tuesday, Scholas noted that the United States now joins Argentina, Italy, Mozambique, and Spain in hosting the program.
Los Angeles was personally chosen by Pope Francis as the first US city to take part in the program.
The Holy Father noted that Los Angeles “will become a kind of worldwide capital of sport” by hosting several major sporting events over the next few years, culminating in the 2028 Olympic Games.
The Program will be undertaken in collaboration with the LA84 Foundation, which supports youth sport and public education about the role of sports in positive youth development.
Announcing the Pelota de Trapo Program, LA84 President Renata Simril said, “Pope Francis advocates for unity and inclusion, and his Pelota de Trapo Program will use the power of sports to inspire young people in our communities to live like we play.”
“Our mission is to ensure all kids have opportunities for inclusion and access to the lifelong benefits that sports and play provide.”
The County and City of Los Angeles are also supporting the Program, with LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, saying, “Los Angeles County excitedly welcomes Scholas and the Pelota de Trapo education initiative to our region to cultivate leadership, civic engagement, and opportunities for encounter for young people through a love of sports and play.”
According to Tuesday’s press release, the Pelota de Trapo Program aims at “engaging a minimum of 30 schools annually, building a network of teachers, establishing a virtual platform for increased engagement, and producing a volunteer program for collaboration with families, youth sports teams and partner organizations for support and increased growth.”
With more than 450 people gathering at the Vatican from around the world for a monthlong meeting, the General Secretariat of the Synod said it is taking action to reduce the environmental impact of the synod assembly.
Making the event plastic free, eliminating waste, using only recycled paper and only when necessary are part of the plan, but with more than 50% of the assembly’s calculated carbon footprint coming from long-distance travel, the Vatican has secured financial support from the Switzerland-based SOS Planet Foundation to generate offsetting carbon credits by sending “efficient cooking stoves and water purification technologies to households, communities and institutions” in Kenya and Nigeria.
The first assembly of the Synod of Bishops is scheduled to meet at the Vatican Oct. 4-29. A second assembly is planned for October 2024.
Announcing the carbon-offset plan Sept. 19, the synod office also noted that the synod’s opening day is when Pope Francis has said he will publish a follow-up document to his 2015 encyclical, “Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home.”
The choice of fuel-efficient cook stoves and water purification systems “responds to the criterion of integral ecology” Laudato Si’ called for by combining concern for the environment, attention to local needs and concrete assistance to people, the synod office said.
Pope Francis makes a brief visit to the Basilica of St. Mary Major to entrust his Apostolic Journey to Marseille to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
By Devin Watkins
Ahead of his two-day visit to the French city of Marseille, Pope Francis traveled across Rome on Tuesday morning to pray at the feet of Our Lady.
According to the Holy See Press Office, the Pope paused in silent prayer before the ancient icon of Maria Salus Populi Romani.
He entrusted his upcoming Apostolic Journey to Marseille to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, before returning by car to the Vatican.
Pope Francis is scheduled to depart for the southern French city on Friday afternoon and return on Saturday.
The 22-23 September visit will see the Pope participate on Friday in a Marian prayer with the diocesan clergy at the Basilica of “Notre Dame de la Garde” and a moment of reflection with religious leaders.
On Saturday, the Holy Father will meet privately with people experiencing economic hardship.
Then, he will take part in the concluding session of the “Mediterranean Meetings”, before meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
The Pope’s final event will be the celebration of Holy Mass at the Vélodrome Stadium on Saturday afternoon, ahead of his departure and return to Rome.
The General Secretariat of the Synod commits to working towards a sustainable General Assembly in the month of October, as Pope Francis prepares to release part two of his encyclical “Laudato si'”.
By Francesca Merlo
In a press release published on Tuesday, 19 September, the General Secretariat of the Synod unveiled its new commitment to the conservation of Creation.
The initiatives, announced in the lead up to the publication of Pope Francis’ “new” Laudato si’, consist in choices aimed at offsetting the residual CO2 emissions produced by the forthcoming 16th General Assembly of the Synod.
The press release states that this reality is made possible through a collaboration with the SOS Planet Foundation and the technical expertise of LifeGate, building upon the success of their joint efforts during the 2019 Synod Assembly.
The Synod’s dedication to environmental stewardship is not just a policy but a reflection of the teachings of Pope Francis, as expressed in his encyclical Laudato si’, on care for our common home.
As the Holy Father writes, “Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last two hundred years. Yet, we are called to be instruments of God our Father so that our planet might be what he desired when he created it and correspond with His plan for peace, beauty, and fullness.”
The selected project for offsetting carbon emissions will be implemented in Nigeria and Kenya, blending ecological conservation, community involvement, and tangible support for the lives of the individuals in these regions.
The primary goal is to introduce efficient cooking stoves and cutting-edge water purification technologies to households, communities, and institutions.
The Synod says that at the heart of this initiative lies the intention to significantly reduce the consumption of non-renewable biomass and fossil fuels for cooking and water purification.
This transition is anticipated to yield a substantial reduction in air pollution levels, which will directly impact respiratory health and mortality rates, particularly among marginalised populations like women and children.
This holistic approach not only addresses environmental issues but also enhances the overall well-being of the communities involved.
The Synod also notes that the innovative financing model of this project, too, is a testament to its sustainability. The proceeds generated from the sale of carbon credits will be reinvested in supporting local partners actively engaged in the production, distribution, and maintenance of the aforementioned technologies.
In conclusion the Synod Secretariat calls the initiative “an embodiment of the Synod’s resolve to safeguard creation, blending spirituality with practical action”, which exemplifies Pope Francis’s call to make our planet correspond with God’s plan for “peace, beauty, and fullness.”
The third edition of Mediterranean Meetings has begun in Marseilles. For the first time, young people and bishops are working together to produce a final document, which they will present to Pope Francis.
By Delphine Allaire in Marseilles
A reflection on how to turn this fragmented and wounded ocean into a “mosaic of hope”, a space of peace, reconciliation, and charity.
That’s the contribution Marseilles wants to give to the Mediterranean process underway in the Church, at a time when migration is hitting the headlines, from Briançon to Lampedusa.
For this set of meetings, young people will join bishops from Palermo, Tunis, Aleppo, Athens, Cyprus, Odessa, Tangiers and Algiers, among others, to demonstrate the Mediterranean face of the Church. The 70 students and young professionals, aged between 25 and 35, are hosted by families in Marseilles. They come from 25 countries bordering the Mediterranean, including France, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy, Spain, Syria, Lebanon, Algeria and Ukraine.
(Eastern Europe, which encompasses the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, is sometimes forgotten in the vast Mediterranean ensemble. But, as Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, host of the 3rd Mediteranean Meetings, often reminds us, “a drop that comes from the Dnieper will one day end up in Gibraltar.”)
The first edition was of these meetings was inaugurated by Pope Francis in Bari (February 2020), and the next held in Florence (February 2022), with the Pope not in attendance.
“The Pope is not coming to Marseilles to be looked at, but rather so that, together with him, we might look at the Mediterranean, its challenges, its resources, its potential”.
That’s according to Cardinal Aveline, who called on us, before the opening Mass of the youth session on Sunday evening, “to take the measure of the complexity of the contexts”.
This is a major challenge for France, which has a responsibility in the Mediterranean, says the Cardinal, as he underlines the significant role played by France in Mediterranean history, “sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse”.
Marseille, with its multicultural population of some 100 nationalities and the largest number of French consulates, has a role to play as a “message city”. “Beyond different religious convictions, Marseille’s message is that every identity always contains an element of otherness. Marseille knows this more than any other..”
“Identities that never want to see otherness become murderous identities”, adds Cardinal Aveline, quoting the Franco-Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf, author of the remarkable 1998 essay “Les Identités meurtrières”.
Divided into one French-speaking team and nine English-speaking teams, the 70 young people will explore their identity and otherness over three days of meetings.
Sharing their personal story, as well as that of Marseille and the Mediterranean, the aim is for them to learn about three subjects: their own history, dialogue in all dimensions of community life, and ecological and migratory issues, “to listen to the cry of distress raised by the earth”.
Starting on Thursday September 21, the 70 young people will work in pairs with the bishops on a final document, which will be presented to the Pontiff on Saturday morning, in front of an audience of officials at the Pharo Palace – the French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as ecclesiastical, political, diplomatic, economic and civil authorities.
In a spirit of “openness to surprise”, these mixed teams of young people and bishops will explore a range of issues – ecological, economic, conflict-related, religious freedom and freedom of conscience.
Priscille Riondel, a 26-year-old from Marseilles who hopes to study in Italy, has high hopes of forging links and friendships this week. She is looking forward “To be able to put faces to other shores of the Mediterranean and dialogue with these young people we would never have met in any other setting. I’ll be able to discover more about my faith and my history thanks to this. The density of the program will quickly weld us together like a family”, she hopes, eager to carry out projects with her new acquaintances.
The young woman, who is also the French representative of the Youth Council for the Mediterranean, founded this summer by the Italian episcopate, explains that she became interested in migration after her meeting with a 16-year-old migrant in Marseille this year. This foundational experience, which touched her heart, led her to believe “that the Lord is waiting for her there”.
A first illustration of Mediterranean otherness was the torchlight procession to Notre-Dame de la Garde on Saturday evening, in which young people from Marseilles’ northern suburbs took part.
The next day, the opening Mass of the youth session was held a packed Carthusian monastery church, one of the city’s oldest, built under Louis XIV.
Marian hymns and the Lord’s Prayer in Arabic, prayers of the faithful in Italian, psalms in Hebrew and English resounded before the Apotheosis of Saint Mary Magdalen by Marseille Baroque painter Michel Serre (1658 -1733).
The Archbishop of Marseille is convinced: “This happy memory of a possible conviviality can heal memories wounded by today’s conflicts”.
Cardinal Jean-Marc Avelin at the opening Mass for young people, on the 17th September
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, highlights the Holy See’s priorities with regard to the Holy Land in the context of renewed efforts to build peace in the Middle East.
By Christopher Wells
The Holy See welcomes any initiative for peace in the Holy Land precisely because it “is firmly convinced that peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and in the region more generally, would benefit the entire international community.”
At the same time, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, emphasized that any peace initiative must both protect the local populations and provide for the legitimate concerns of the various parties.
Speaking at a High-Level Meeting during the General Assembly of the United Nations, Archbishop Gallagher noted the Holy See’s priorities with regard to the Holy Land, especially the existence of the Holy Places related to the life of Jesus, which have been entrusted for almost 800 years to the Custody of the Friars Minor; and the continuous presence of a Christian community for two thousand years.
After recalling the Holy See’s efforts in support of a “two-state solution,” the Archbishop highlighted the question of the administration of the city of Jerusalem. Recognized as a Holy City by Jews, Muslims, and Christians, Jerusalem can be a “place of encounter” where all can live together “with respect and mutual goodwill.”
In this context, said Archbishop Gallagher, “It is truly sad to see acts of intolerance in Jerusalem, such as those recently perpetrated by some Jewish extremists against Christians,” and called for such acts to be condemned by all governments, including the Israeli government. He added that attacks on Christians must also “be prosecuted by law and prevented in the future through education in fraternity.”
He called for Jerusalem to be recognized as a “City of Encounter” protected by “an internationally agreed ‘special statute’,” an idea promoted by the Holy See for some time.
He said the Holy See “is firmly convinced that whoever administers the City of Jerusalem should adhere to internationally guaranteed principles,” including “the equal rights and duties of the faithful of the three monotheistic religions (Christians, Jews, and Muslims), the absolute guarantee of freedom of religion and of access to and worship in the Holy Places, and respect for the Status Quo regime, where it applies.”
Finally, Archbishop Gallagher noted Pope Francis’ repeated calls for direct dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.
He recalled the 2014 meeting in the Vatican between then-Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, noting that there have not been any since the two leaders, together with Pope Francis, planted an olive tree, representing the hope for peace in the Gardens.
“Nevertheless,” he concluded, “we continue to water that olive tree, waiting for the Presidents of both States, accompanied by their Governments, to come again to reap the fruits of peace.”
If we have become aware of anything at all since Donald Trump appeared on our doorsteps, it must surely be what we learned from our parents years ago. “You’ll need to do two things to get through life,” my dad said. “Learn math and tell the truth.”
The simplicity stuck with me. The math, not so much. The truth, an imperative. Always. So here it comes.
From the minute the escalator stopped on the mezzanine floor of Trump Tower, I felt the challenge of truth rise in me: I had heard enough about Trump over the years that I was already uncomfortable. There was something unconvincing about him. Something I did not trust. I could not imagine this man as the president of the United States, not if character was still a value in the national soul.
First, I thought the pomposity he brought was a lie in itself. I simply could not understand how it was that a man of whom the New York newspapers had for years been recording business frauds and tax evasions, womanizing and accusations of sexual assault, and a narcissism that generated run-on insults of anyone whom he considered any competition to himself could be so astoundingly self-centered in a world in need.
Somewhere along the line, I had been taught that the presidency of the United States was grounded on the integrity of a Washington, a Jefferson, an Adams, or a Lincoln, an FDR or Eisenhower and, in our own time, of a Carter and Reagan and Obama. And I counted on that quality. After all, I was sure, no American would choose less.
But as the months went by, I discovered that there was a great deal more truth than that to tell.The real truth is that as he had rambled on, corrupting one monument to honor after another, I had stopped thinking about Trump at all. Shocked as I was to see him elected as the ethical model and moral doorman for the country, I knew intuitively that there was more to the Great American Moral Collapse than simply Trump himself.
I had begun, instead, to wonder about something far more worrisome than one man prowling the world’s political stage for the sake of his own self-aggrandizement — strutting to identify himself with one class and smirking to reject another. No, now I found myself wondering what kind of people we were who would simply accept it all.
Here was new American politics where the lying, the language, the late-night TV show were being used to squeeze the concept of “Republic” out of the United States and turn it into a demagoguery minus a Senate-approved Cabinet. We had gotten ourselves a tiny little king.
But how? Who was voting for him? Who would put someone like that — an accused liar, thief, rapist, egomaniac — into the highest office in the land? And why? Who would support this kind of political chicanery themselves?
What kind of people — what kind of country — were we who would simply step aside and allow the walls of decency, dignity and public political values to collapse? And all of it with the kids of the nation in the room watching us and who now, as a result, had no political steel of the soul left to admire.
Living through this kind of presidency once is difficult enough. The very thought that this could become the tone of America’s politics in the future is dizzying. Terrifying maybe: As in, bring on the guns. Stop the immigrants. Forget the allies. Dally with dictatorships. And you can forget “Invictus,” too — “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul” — as you watch our democracy go slowly by.
The questions, of course, are what we ourselves need to concentrate on. How could so major a social, moral, systemic change happen in the United States? Journalists reported that Republicans — Trump’s congressional representatives and senators — were/are afraid of him.
Oh, come now. Grow up.
Whatever the kind of social destruction with which Trump poisoned the country, where are the voices that should be confronting it?
In fact, why was there no contention, no confrontation at all? Not even when the capital of the United States was under siege by MAGA, by our own people. Where were the men and women who had always been seen as the starch and soul of the nation? Where were the political parties that were “our checks and balances”?
And then I got an insight of another kind, a greater kind, an even more dangerous kind of truth.
The question has really become whether the country itself has simply collapsed any and all moral standards. So much for the “George Washington and the cherry tree” fable to spur our courage, our own integrity?
How did this happen? Who tricked us out of ourselves? And most of all, why are we saying nothing about that awareness? Are we saying it aloud? Are we saying it in front of the children so they can at least know that what is happening is wrong?
The big question is the basic one: Where are we getting our values these days? From the books we ban, so students can’t ask for the explanations we don’t want to give them? Is it from burying, or rewriting, our own history so the new demagogues can do what they want to do with the husk of it? As in, ignore the Native treaties, deny the slave markets, build the racist jails, forget the children’s cages on the border so we can forget the people we throw away as if they are simply things — not Black and white and brown, not human, not children of God.
And all of this in our time. In our country. By our voting system.
From where I stand, it seems to me that out there, in the American population, is a people standing with their heads bowed down while our “democracy” begins to swing in the breeze because our so-called representatives forget these days to honor the Constitution that created us, and which they had sworn to defend. And while we forget to vote, while 43% of us don’t even bother to go to the polls.
Instead, we waste our own civil duties. We don’t even know what’s being proposed while the government-behind-a-government tiptoes through life at our expense.
What’s the point? Simple.
What we have seen these years explains to us the failure of the people who have the responsibility to make America great again: us. For that, we have nothing to fear, perhaps, except our own lack of involvement in the conversation.
If we ourselves step up, express our positions, and work together everywhere to shape a national position on the local bipartisan stage, if we would start by demanding that the Congress itself work together for all our sakes, we’d be America again.
The philosopher-statesman Edmund Burke, in guiding the country through the British-American struggles of the 18th century, teaches us something important here, too, perhaps. He writes: “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”
Think it over. For all our sakes.
Editor’s note: According to a 2008 Pew Research study, one of 10 U.S. adults is a former Catholic. Some have moved on to other denominations, others have no church affiliation at all, still others have formed their own communities of former Catholics. In this five-part series, former NCR editor Tom Roberts examines the choices many former Catholics have made as they decided to move away from the institutional church.
Martha Ligas learned about the Community of St. Peter in Cleveland six months before she ventured into a worship service. She hesitated because she did not want to step over an invisible line that she had straddled for so long, one foot in and one foot out of the Roman Catholic Church.
For this young but lifelong Catholic, a product of Catholic schooling from elementary through Loyola University Chicago and an advanced degree in ministry at Boston College, leaving the institutional structure was a difficult decision.
“Catholic is just how I see the world,” she said. “I knew nothing else than Catholic.”
The Community of St. Peter is an independent community, not affiliated with the Cleveland Diocese, that self-describes as Catholic, eucharistic, and “preserving and renewing a living tradition.” It formed in April 2010 when a significant portion of St. Peter’s Parish refused to disperse to other parishes after Bishop Richard Lennon closed it as part of a diocesan-wide downsizing.
The Community of St. Peter is representative of one expression that has emerged amid the vast Catholic diaspora in the United States.
Ligas, 32, is part of that large, if not precisely describable, sea of Catholics who have left the institution but retained a connection, often highly personalized and in new forms, to the tradition.
Some communities in the far-flung diaspora seem to be practically dealing with questions and thorny issues previously prohibited from being raised in institutional settings but now integral to the synodal process underway as a result of the Francis papacy.
In Portugal, Pope Francis may have been expressing the feeling of many of those who belong to modern independent eucharistic communities (often referred to as IECs) when he told the gathering at World Youth Day: “There is room for everyone in the church and, whenever there is not, then, please, we must make room, including for those who make mistakes, who fall or struggle.”
He continued, “The Lord does not point a finger, but opens wide his arms: Jesus showed us this on the cross. He does not close the door, but invites us to enter; he does not keep us at a distance, but welcomes us.”
Inclusion without qualification is a familiar theme in independent eucharistic communities, especially when it comes to women, the LGBTQ community, and the divorced and remarried. Social justice themes, outreach to those on society’s margins, are also prominent, far more likely to be prioritized on websites than doctrinal or devotional elements of communal life.
No simple or single reason explains why people leave the institutional church. Nor is it easy to characterize groups that claim Catholic identity either historically or those formed more recently outside the institutional boundaries as parishes closed or when a bishop or new pastor decided to upend all that was in place.
Once upon a time we labeled them “fallen away,” “lapsed,” “ex” or worse. They were Catholics who had left the fold for any number of reasons. Once upon a time, they also were rare enough to stand out, often embarrassed enough to try to keep the leaving quiet. They were branded people.
Not any longer.
Former Catholics are everywhere. There are millions of them. According to a 2008 Pew Research study, one in 10 U.S. adults at the time was a former Catholic. In real numbers, that amounted to 28.8 million former Catholics. Taken as a single entity, they would make up the second-largest denomination in the country after Catholics.
Some of the drop-off has to do with generational differences and a steady decrease in formal religious affiliation, according to a 2021 Gallup Poll.
While the aggregate numbers tell a broad story, the Catholic diaspora, in differing degrees detached from institutional Roman Catholicism, is a diverse and complex reality. Not a few of its manifestations take shape in communities that claim the name Catholic, as well as deep roots in that tradition.
One website lists more than 300 independent eucharistic Catholic communities in 41 states plus the District of Columbia. Not all of them are liberal groups. Some, such as the Society of St. Pius X and the Mount St. Michael community of Spokane, Washington, are ultraconservative. NCR has not attempted to verify the existence of all of them on the list. At the same time, it is clear the list is not exhaustive.
The diaspora would also include the various branches of Roman Catholic Women Priests, as well as a broad network of communities led by ordained women.
An uncertain future
The renowned Czech theologian and philosopher Msgr. Tomas Halik posits a dark time ahead for the church if “it fails to impress a profound transformation not only on ecclesial structures, but on the existential and spiritual dimension of faith,” according to a review of his book The Afternoon of Christianity: Courage to Change.
The review, by Jesuit Fr. José Frazão Correia, describes the current moment as a “prophetic warning,” for the global church, a “drama constituted by the loss of people, relevance and credibility.” It is a moment, on the other hand, that holds the potential for “true spiritual conversion and profound ecclesial reform.”
Quoting Halik, Frazão writes, “a real renewal of the Church cannot come from the desks of bishops or from meetings and conferences of experts, but presupposes strong spiritual impulses, deep theological reflection and the courage to experiment.”
One might reasonably view the changes underway today, as focused in the synodality effort, as deriving both from bishops at their desks as well as strong spiritual impulses — a kind of permission from the very top, Pope Francis, for experimentation and challenge from the ground up.
If setting the church right, as Halik puts it, requires “courage to experiment,” the Catholic diaspora in the United States might have something to offer. Independent eucharistic communities have been experimenting for a long time.
In The Other Catholics: Remaking America’s Largest Religion, a study of independent Catholics in the United States, Julie Byrne describes such communities as “Catholicism’s research lab.” They serve as a lens through which “one can see better the thoughts and unthinkables, centers and peripheries, flows and fault lines of Catholicism and American religion.”
She said she “found that independent Catholicism is deeply continuous with the family of Catholicism, linked to many other American faiths, and crucial if we want to understand Catholicism and American religion as a whole.”
In her research, Byrne spent a decade following the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch. Sounds ancient, and the church on its website makes a specific claim to apostolic succession dating to 1566 and Cardinal Scipione Rebiba. But the church, considered among the first of the American “independents,” dates to 1959. Its structure, as is the case with many independent eucharistic communities, is highly democratic and includes women priests and bishops.
In the introduction to her book, Byrne wonders if “maybe independents function for modern Catholicism in the same way as religious orders functioned for late medieval and early modern Catholicisms.”
She cites sociologists Roger Finke and Patricia Wittberg as advancing the idea that “religious orders incubate new ideas, serving Catholicism like denominationalism serves Protestantism, but with the advantage of remaining within the fold.” In a similar way, perhaps, modern independents test out new ideas while not forming new denominations.
Defining Catholic IECs
In 2009, 230 people from 17 states and the District of Columbia representing 42 self-described intentional eucharistic communities gathered at what was then the 4-H Center in Chevy Chase, Maryland, to discuss their future.
It was the third such meeting that had been organized, largely by the Catholic sociologist William D’Antonio. The first had occurred in 1991 in Washington, D.C.
At the Chevy Chase meeting, literature produced by the organizers described intentional eucharistic communities as “those small faith communities, rooted in Catholic tradition, which gather to celebrate Eucharist on a regular basis. Through sharing liturgical life and mutual support for one another, members are strengthened to live Gospel-centered lives characterized by spiritual growth and social commitment.”
One of the discussions prominent during the proceedings was whether, and to what degree, independent communities should retain an attachment to the institutional church.
Some, angry over one or another issue, wanted nothing more to do with the institutional church. Others described arrangements where the community met separately but still belonged to a parish and had liturgies celebrated by a priest.
Still others described meeting sometimes on Catholic properties and chapels, sometimes in rented spaces, and celebrating Eucharist with priests who said Mass clandestinely.
D’Antonio, then a fellow at the Life Cycle Institute at the Catholic University of America, viewed intentional eucharistic communities as agents of change. While believing that such communities should retain some connection to the institutional church, he cited such influences on parishes as the priest shortage and demographic shifts, saying, “The church needs us as much as we need the church.”
Michele Dillon, another sociologist who had worked on research projects with D’Antonio, also spoke at the gathering and noted a seeming paradox: that while a survey of the group showed that 70% said the institutional church was not important to them personally, much of the conversation about and the rationale for their communities emphasized the importance of Vatican II.
“Given your immersion in that whole Vatican II model of church, it’s a little ironic,” she said, “that at the same time you detach from the institutional church.”
In a more recent interview via Zoom, Dillon, dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of New Hampshire, noted the “very American sense” Catholics in this country have of “It’s our church.”
“Of course, it’s Vatican II and the people of God, but it’s a very American sense compared to in Europe, where people walk away, they don’t even want advice. They’re just so fed up with what goes on in the church that just as we saw in Ireland so precipitously, and we’ve seen it earlier in Western Europe, they walk away.
“I think it’s wonderful, all of this activity,” she said, referring to independent eucharistic communities. “But my point as a sociologist would be that the church is theirs even if they disagree with whatever aspect or many aspects. And if they get exhausted from trying to connect with the church at large, whether it’s the Vatican or the local church, then in a sense they’re delegitimating their own claims as Catholic.”
She cited Dignity USA, a group advocating for LGBTQ rights in the church. She has written about the group in her book Catholic Identity: Balancing Reason, Faith, and Power, exploring why groups that have deep disagreement with church teaching choose to stay and fight. She believes such endurance can bring change.
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She argues that events like the synod on the family and the current synodal process are providing small “cumulative accretions” of developments in teaching “that ultimately become part of the permanent record of the church.” The synod processes, particularly under Pope Francis, she said, acknowledged the complexities of family life and are giving a hearing to questions and concerns that have been voiced by ordinary Catholics for decades.
Crossing the line
When Martha Ligas eventually attended the Community of St. Peter in 2018, she said, “I found myself in tears because I was so moved, because I found a place where the theology of the liturgy intersected so crisply and clearly with my theology. For me, particularly, it was gender-inclusive language both for people and for God.”
It was important, too, she said, that she “saw LGBTQ folks, couples, in the community. There were no restrictions on participation or on sacraments or anything of that nature. I realized, OK, I guess this is going to be that other foot outside the institution — that I’ve crossed the line.”
Ligas, who in a recent community newsletter described herself as “not only a female, but a queer female, and not only a queer female but a queer female steeped in a catholic identity with a call to serve,” became a pastoral minister of the community in 2021.
In an interview, she recalled the term “radical relationality,” which she learned in one of her classes at Boston College. “When you’re Catholic that’s how you interact with the world — this constant desire — this Trinitarian desire to build community. It resonated with me so deeply and I said, ‘That’s what I am and that is always what I will be.’
“At the same time, I’m learning so much more about social justice and, truthfully, becoming so disillusioned with some of the ways the Roman Catholic institution leaves big gaps in living out a social justice mission. … There is a big gap in who’s allowed to use their voice, and I think there’s a big gap in who is welcome at the Communion table.”
Those realizations collided at some point and, she said with a laugh, “I fell in love with Catholicism and I became disillusioned with Roman Catholicism at the exact same time.”
Dillon makes the case, echoing the late Fr. Andrew Greeley, that today’s Catholics “will be Catholic on their own terms.” But she said the tug, whether inside or outside the institution, is to the sacraments and the theological tradition.
Perhaps as illustration of that pull — and one that would be familiar to many involved in independent eucharistic communities — Ligas is teaching theology at Notre Dame College, is working part time for FutureChurch, and is enrolled this semester in a doctor of ministry program at yet another Jesuit institution, Fordham University.
Part 2 of this series shows the long arc of change and institutional diminishment that has been occurring in the Catholic Church in the United States for decades and that has contributed to the growth of the Catholic diaspora.
Speaking in Alaska on September 11, 2023, President Biden noted that the terrorists responsible for killing so many people 22 years ago “could not touch what no force, no enemy, no day ever could, and that is the soul of America.” In keeping with a central theme of his political campaign to be re-elected in which he identifies himself as a warrior in a “battle for the soul of America,” he asked rhetorically: “What is the soul of America?”
His answer: “It is the breath, the life, the essence of who we are. A soul is what makes us ‘us.’. . .. The soul of America is the fortitude we found in the fear of that terrible September day, the purpose we found in our pain, the light we found in our darkest hour.”
We find a similar metaphorical use of “soul” in Jon Meacham’s 2018 book The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels. Here we also have a word, angels, used metaphorically. It only makes sense, if at all, to speak of the “soul of America” if we recognize the root meaning of “soul.” For many, the very notion of a soul is only an archaic reference.
In the Coen Brothers’ film O Brother, Where art Thou?, set in Mississippi in 1937 during the Great Depression, there is a scene in which three convicts, who have just escaped from prison, pick up a hitch-hiking young guitarist who tells them that he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to play the guitar. One of the convicts, who had converted to Christianity in prison, remarks incredulously: “For that you traded your everlasting soul!” The young guitarist responds: “Well, I wasn’t using it.”
Perhaps there is a sense in which contemporary human beings have sold their souls, so to speak, precisely because we do not see any need for them. In a world so persistently described by materialist and mechanistic principles, founded so it seems on the natural sciences, do we have any need for a soul? As the philosopher Paul Churchland, reaffirming the views of many, claims in Matter and Consciousness: “We are creatures of matter. And we should learn to live with that fact.” Or as he writes elsewhere, “The doctrine of an immaterial soul looks, quite frankly, like just another myth, false not just at the edges, but to the core. This is unfortunate, since that hypothesis is still embedded, to some depth or other, in the social and moral consciousness of billions of people across widely diverse cultures.”
A good survey of various ways in which “soul” continues to be used is set forth in “What Happened to the Soul” by Iain McGilchrist, author of The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. McGilchrist is an expert on the relationship between neuroscience and the humanities and he argues against the view that science has made the notion of the soul irrelevant.
To understand the power of metaphors, especially poetic ones, that employ the notion of soul, we need to recognize the foundational meaning of soul, that for which, like the guitarist in the film, many may think we no longer have any use.
The traditional notion of a soul is directly associated with the distinction between living and non-living beings. Biology presupposes a fundamental difference between the living and the non-living. The difference cannot be accounted for if we think that there is nothing more to the world than material realities organized in different ways. This is the poverty of materialist reductionism. There is something more to living things than their material parts. The “more” is not a material more; nor is it the mere arrangement of parts. Here we meet the soul–the unifying principle that makes the living thing be the whole that it is. This unifying principle is more than the sum of the constituent material parts; it is a principle necessary for each living thing to be actually what it is.
To account for the actuality of a living thing (plant, animal, or human being), philosophers of nature, at least in the tradition of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, speak of an intrinsic source or principle that constitutes the living body precisely as a living body. This principle intrinsic to living things that makes them to be alive is the soul. Hence, plants have souls, animals have souls, human beings have souls; these souls differ as plants, animals, and human beings differ, but they share the same function as the source of the characteristic features of a living thing and the source of its various operations.
Any living thing has only one soul, one principle by which it is the living thing that it is. The souls of animals incorporate the powers found in the souls of plants, and human souls incorporate the powers found in the souls of plants and animals.
Notice that this analysis is first of all philosophical. In fact, in what follows I will focus only on what philosophical reflection can tell us about the soul, leaving aside specifically theological notions about the human soul, including questions of its separability from the human body and its immortality. Such theological reflection, however, incorporates what philosophy describes. Thus, it is important to get the philosophy right.
The understanding of the soul that I am suggesting is different from that proposed by Plato or Descartes, according to whom the soul is a kind of separate substance united to the body. A dualistic conception that treats soul and body as two separate things fails to account for the essential unity of a living thing. Rather, the soul is the actuality of the whole; not separate from the whole, but an expression of the fact that the whole is a reality not merely reducible to its material constituents. To speak of “actuality” is to recognize that any natural thing (alive or not) requires some principle or source that causes it to be what it is. This kind of cause, known as a formal cause, is different from that of an agent. To use a felicitous distinction from philosopher Edward Feser, the soul as “formal cause” is “that by which” a living thing is the unified living thing that it is. The soul is not a “what;” it is “that by which.” A “that by which” is a real principle that is a necessary source of the actuality of a thing.
The soul is not some outer shell or structure; it is the intrinsic determining principle that actualizes the potentiality of matter to be a living being and thus radically constitutes an entity as a single individual living thing. Intrinsic does not mean merely internal; it points to a foundational principle of something. The recognition that the unity of a living thing requires a principle or source of its unity is a philosophical recognition, but all of the sciences accept, at least implicitly, that each thing they study is the one thing that it is and, thus, must have a source of its unity.
Even if we can describe characteristic behavior of living things precisely as living and distinguish them from non-living things, we need to guard against the temptation to think that it is sufficient simply to list the essential properties of living things: to think, for example, that a living thing is to be understood as a cluster of these properties. It is true, that we should begin an examination of life in terms of these essential properties, but we need to go further, to see the unity of a living thing, a living thing that possesses certain essential properties or capacities.
To speak of souls is to acknowledge that living things are not machines. A plant has an intrinsic principle of its own operations, whereas a machine’s operations are, in a sense, imposed from without. A plant carries out photosynthesis and a pocket watch displays the time of day, but these causal powers are not in the two objects in the same way. That a plant carries out photosynthesis is an observer-independent fact about the plant, whereas that a watch displays the time of day is not an observer-independent fact about the watch. The metal bits that make up the watch have no inherent tendency to display the time. This is a function we have imposed on them, from outside as it were. The plant, by contrast, does have an inherent tendency to carry out photosynthesis. This reflects the fact that to be a plant is to have a special unity and, thus, a source of that unity, a soul; whereas to be a pocket watch is to have a different kind of unity. Each of the metal bits that make up a watch possesses a fundamental unity, but the unity of the watch itself is simply the form imposed from without. The difference between a plant and a watch is emblematic of the fundamental difference between a natural thing and a machine.
The failure to distinguish living things from machines is the result of the loss of a sense of nature, that is, the loss of the recognition that there are existing things each of which has an intrinsic source of what it is and how it acts. Too often, we mistakenly conclude that the discoveries of modern science require us to abandon the distinction between living things and machines. The mechanization of nature, as it were, is really the result of a particular philosophy; it is not required by the empirical sciences.
One result of the loss of the soul is to treat all of nature, including human nature, as something to be manipulated–to be arranged and re-arranged simply according to what we might will or desire, and thus really to eliminate the notion of nature itself. All of this is a manifestation of what theologian Michael Hanby identifies as “technological absolutism.” We can see these ethical consequences in so many areas of our public life–even in, if not especially in, proposals about bioethics, sexual identity, and gender advocated by those who seek “to restore the soul of America.”
All ethical reflection depends upon our understanding who we are and what the world is like. Although the word “soul” may seem archaic, the reality to which it refers is an essential feature of our world. Souls continue to matter, since nature and living things continue to matter. To recognize that a living being is not a machine we need to battle for a robust philosophy of nature that affirms that each living being has its own intrinsic actualizing principle, in a word, its own soul.
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ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 18, 2023 / 18:30 pm (CNA).
The archbishop of Piura in northern Peru, José Antonio Eguren, explained in a recent homily that sin is “a suicidal act” and warned that it always has consequences.
In his Sunday Mass sermon at the Piura cathedral, the Peruvian prelate said that “sin seeks to plunge us into spiritual death and unhappiness and is ultimately a suicidal act because through it, the human being rejects God-love, his beginning and foundation, his origin and his end.”
Eguren stressed that “every sin, no matter how personal and intimate it may seem, always has social consequences and increases the forces of death and destruction in the world, what we call the ‘mysterium iniquitatis’ (mystery of iniquity), which cannot be understood without reference to the mystery of redemption, to the ‘mysterium paschale’ (paschal mystery) of Jesus Christ.”
The archbishop emphasized that “without God, the human being fades away, he doesn’t understand himself, he sinks into the existential lie, believing himself to be what he is not, unleashing within him a series of conflicts and contradictions, which he then projects negatively onto others, to his social life, and even to creation.”
In this way, “alienated from God and from himself, sin also inevitably causes a rupture in man’s relationships with his brothers and with the created world. Not for nothing, after the original sin, the next sin that the book of Genesis narrates is fratricide: Cain, who kills his brother Abel out of envy” (Gn 4:8).
Eguren noted that “one of the great evils of our time is to have lost the sense of sin” and that the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines sin as “an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity” (No. 1849).
St. Augustine defined it as “an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.”
The prelate noted that “the evil and damage that sin produces is of such magnitude that, to save us from it, and to attain the wonderful gift of reconciliation with God, with ourselves, with our human brothers, and with creation, the Son of God had to become incarnate, die on the cross, and rise gloriously.”
After stressing that God is always willing to forgive because of his immense mercy, the archbishop of Piura pointed out the need to forgive others and not hold grudges, nor have desires for hatred or revenge.
In Sunday’s Gospel, to the question that Peter asks Jesus about how many times he should forgive, the Lord tells him: “I say to you, not seven times but seventy times seven” (Mt 18:22).
Since for the Jews seven meant perfection or fullness, with his response Christ encourages us to forgive always and without limitations.
“May Holy Mary, Mother of Mercy, help us to be increasingly aware of the gratuity of the greatness of forgiveness received from God, so that we may be merciful like the Father, and like his Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, mercy incarnate,” he concluded.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 18, 2023 / 18:00 pm (CNA).
The Panamanian Bishops’ Conference has published a communiqué stating that the Catholic faithful should not attend the services of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X (FSSPX or SSPX), whose members are known as Lefebvrists.
In the Sept. 14 statement, posted on X Sept. 16 by the Archdiocese of Panama, the bishops wrote: “We notify the people of God that the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefevbre is not in full communion with the Catholic Church, so the Catholic faithful must refrain from attending its services.”
“As for the sacraments administered at their services, the faithful are reminded that to administer sacraments the approval of the bishop or the ecclesial authority is required; and by not having it, these are illicit,” the conference added.
Lefebvre died in a state of excommunication in 1991 for consecrating four bishops without the approval of Pope John Paul II. Lefebvre founded the FSSPX as a response to what he considered to be errors that had infiltrated the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council.
In the context of the dialogue between the Vatican and the Lefebvrists, in 2009 Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication of the four bishops consecrated by Lefebvre in 1988: Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson, and Alfonso de Galarreta.
Despite the Holy See’s efforts at dialogue and the society’s refusal to recognize ecclesiastical documents — especially from the Second Vatican Council — the Lefebvrists do not have a recognized status in the Catholic Church.
The Panamanian bishops clarified: “As for the celebration of the Mass in Latin, we communicate that it is not prohibited in the Catholic Church, but it must be approved by the bishops (Traditiones Custodes, 2) and the use of the Vetus Ordo [Mass in Latin that was celebrated before the Second Vatican Council] can only be authorized by the Holy See.”
The Vatican published the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes (“Guardians of Tradition”) by Pope Francis on July 16, 2021. The text almost completely restricts the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass (extraordinary form) or Tridentine rite of the 1962 Missal.
With this document, the Holy Father changed the provisions given by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, in his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum in 2007, which led to the Traditional Latin Mass becoming more widely available.
Traditionis Custodes establishes that the local bishop is the one who authorizes the celebration of the Eucharist with the 1962 Missal. If the priest asking for permission was ordained after the publication of the motu proprio, then it is the Vatican that must give authorization.
Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who was Benedict XVI’s personal secretary beginning in 2003, stated in his memoirs that for the late pontiff, Traditionis Custodes was “a mistake” and that he read the text “with pain in his heart.”
In their statement, the bishops of Panama also reminded that “the celebration of sacraments in places not authorized by the bishop is prohibited.”
The prelates also called on “all the Catholic faithful to value the richness of the current liturgy, enriched by the expression of the people of God, through their own language, as requested by the Council Fathers at the Second Vatican Council and as the universal Church celebrates every day around the world.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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Denver, Colo., Sep 18, 2023 / 17:40 pm (CNA).
A campaign ad for Ohio’s pro-abortion ballot measure Issue 1 wrongly used a Catholic image of Jesus Christ, several Catholic commentators say.
The newly released 30-second video ad from Issue 1 backer Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights shows a montage of people in various contexts, including a man kneeling in prayer in what appears to be a Catholic church. A divine mercy image of Jesus Christ hangs on the wall in the background.
“The ad describing Issue 1 dangerously misrepresents the proposed amendment and how the Catholic Church accompanies pregnant women in need,” Michelle Duffey, associate director for communications and outreach at the Ohio Catholic Conference, told CNA Sept. 18.
Issue 1, on the Ohio ballot this November, would amend the state constitution’s Bill of Rights to add a right to “reproductive freedom.” It would create an individual right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions.”
Critics say the measure will strip all rights from the unborn child, allow abortion throughout pregnancy, eliminate safety regulations for abortion clinics, and end mandatory parental consent for minor children’s abortions or other health decisions.
As the montage changes, the ad says: “When we face personal medical decisions, we depend on our doctors, our faith, our family, and the last thing we want is the government making those decisions for us.”
The ad says the passage of Issue 1 would end “Ohio’s extreme abortion ban,” protect birth control and “emergency care for miscarriages.” The proposal protects freedom and means Ohio families will always have “the freedom to make the most personal of decisions.”
Duffey said the ad “nearly tells the truth” in showing a man in prayer while narrating how people depend on faith when pregnant and dealing with uncertainty.
“A woman can confidently rely on the Catholic Church to walk with her through pregnancy, support her material needs, and accompany her and her child after birth,” Duffey said.
Brian Hickey, executive director of the Ohio Catholic Conference, challenged the assumptions of the ad.
“Ohio cannot accept a definition of freedom that perpetuates a throwaway culture of only cherishing people as long as they are useful,” he said. “The Catholic Church has always advocated for and acted to protect the most vulnerable in society, including the indigent, migrants, and preborn children in the womb.”
“We will continue to do so by explaining the harms Issue 1 pose to women, parents, and babies with Catholics and all people of goodwill across Ohio and encourage a no vote on this egregious proposal,” Hickey said. “Ohioans deserve just laws that provide expansive resources and accompaniment to mothers and young families, not proposals like Issue 1, which does nothing to support women.”
CNA sought comment from Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights but did not receive a response by publication.
The group’s website lists dozens of groups that have endorsed Issue 1, including labor unions, LGBT groups, feminist groups, and medical leaders’ groups.
Among the endorsers is Catholics for Choice, whose claim to Catholic identity has long been rejected by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. It drew criticism in January 2022 for projecting abortion advocacy messages onto the outside of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., while Catholics attended a pro-life prayer vigil inside.
Other religious groups endorsing Ohio’s Issue 1 are the United Church of Christ and its regional conference, a Unitarian Universalist group, six Jewish groups, Faith in Public Life, Faith Choice Ohio, and the InterReligious Task Force on Central America.
Ohio currently bans abortion after 20 weeks into pregnancy. The state Supreme Court is set to consider whether to reinstate a heartbeat-based abortion ban that bars abortion after six weeks into pregnancy, which a judge blocked earlier this year, WTVG News reported.
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