Austin, Texas, Sep 6, 2017 / 12:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked part of a Texas law that bans dilation-and-evacuation abortions in the second trimester.
“While some pro-lifers may be tempted to despair at … […]
Providence, R.I., Sep 5, 2017 / 07:38 pm (CNA).- Many Americans are justifiably outraged at the lives that will be shattered by the cancellation of DACA – but that same sentiment should extend to the unborn lives cut short by abortion, said Bisho… […]
Kolkata, India, Sep 5, 2017 / 05:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Marking the first anniversary of Mother Teresa’s canonization, the Archdiocese of Kolkata will hold a Mass Wednesday to declare the saint a co-patroness of the local Church.
She will be pa… […]
For Thomas More, following his conscience led him to martyrdom; for John Henry Newman, following his conscience led him to become a Catholic. […]
Orlu, Nigeria, Sep 5, 2017 / 03:32 pm (CNA).- A Catholic priest was kidnapped and found murdered in Nigeria, local sources have confirmed.
According to local news source Vanguard, Fr. Cyriacus Onunkwo was kidnapped from his car by gunmen on Sept. 1 in… […]
Washington D.C., Sep 5, 2017 / 03:23 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Bishops condemned the Trump administration’s decision Tuesday to end a program that benefited hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as minors.
“The cancellation of the DACA program is reprehensible,” leading U.S. bishops said in a joint statement released Sept. 5.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, as well as vice president Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, migration committee chair Bishop Joe Vasquez of Austin, and Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima, chair of the subcommittee on pastoral care of migrants, refugees, and travelers, all contributed to the statement on the Trump administration’s ending of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Young immigrants eligible for DACA have worked in the U.S., served in the U.S. military, and attended U.S. educational institutions, the bishops said, yet now “after months of anxiety and fear about their futures, these brave young people face deportation.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions had announced Tuesday morning that the Trump administration, in an anticipated move, would be ending DACA, which had begun under the Obama administration.
Under the program, eligible immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as minors by their parents could receive a two-year stay on their deportation. In that time period, they could be eligible for work permits and Social Security.
The program was announced in 2012 by President Obama and implemented by the Department of Homeland Security, in the memorandum “Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United States as Children.”
Congress had several times tried and failed to pass the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, or a version of it, that would help young immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally before the age of 16 to lawfully remain in the U.S. and even have a path to citizenship.
The most recent version has been introduced this year by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and would grant permanent legal status to more than 1 million eligible persons.
DACA was expanded to include eligible parents who brought their children illegally to the U.S. in a program called “Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents.” In 2016, the Supreme Court upheld a halt on that program going into effect, and Sessions warned Tuesday that DACA could get struck down in court.
On Tuesday, the administration announced it would end DACA by phasing it out. Sessions said that it was an “unconstitutional” overreach of executive power, especially since Congress refused several times to grant such benefits to undocumented immigrants.
“In other words, the executive branch, through DACA, deliberately sought to achieve what the legislative branch specifically refused to authorize on multiple occasions,” Sessions stated.
Sessions also blamed the program for contributing to the recent surge in unaccompanied minors coming to the U.S.-Mexico border from Central America, as well as allowing undocumented immigrants to take jobs that could have been open to U.S. citizens.
Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke stated that the courts would have overturned DACA, and so the administration was trying to “wind the program down in an orderly fashion that protects beneficiaries in the near-term while working with Congress to pass legislation.”
The bishops, in their statement, called on Congress to pass a law to protect the immigrants who would have been eligible for DACA, and promised to continue advocating for DACA youth.
“We strongly urge Congress to act and immediately resume work toward a legislative solution,” the bishops stated. “As people of faith, we say to DACA youth – regardless of your immigration status, you are children of God and welcome in the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church supports you and will advocate for you.”
Other bishops also issued statements expressing disappointment in the Trump administration’s decision.
Archbishop Gomez, in a separate statement, said “as a pastor” that ending DACA would result in the possible deportation of 800,000 and would be “a national tragedy and a moral challenge to every conscience.”
“It is not right to hold these young people accountable for decisions they did not make and could not make. They came to this country through no fault of their own,” he said. “Most of them are working hard to contribute to the American dream — holding down jobs, putting themselves through college, some are even serving in our nation’s armed forces.”
Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington said that “while the issue of immigration is complicated … “offering special protection to those who only know the United States as home is a reasonable measure of compassion.”
Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the White House Tuesday morning to protest the administration’s announcement.
Carlos, 31, of northern Virginia, told CNA he currently works two jobs to pay for his college tuition and is nine months from finishing school. Without his degree, he would not be able to pursue a nursing career, he said.
“DACA protects young immigrants like myself to achieve their full potential,” he said. “The young people of this country are the future, we are the future of America. And everyone that has a dream, everyone that has a purpose that wants to help someone is also a dreamer, not just myself.”
“Dreamers” are not asking for handouts, Edvin, another immigrant protesting the end of DACA, told CNA.
“I came to this country with nothing,” Edvin said, “now I’m trying to give something back to this country. I am a business owner, I became a home owner, and I contribute to this country.”
“We are not asking for money. We are not asking for food or anything else,” he said. “We just want a chance to work here legally. Just give us documentation to do it in a safe way, no hide under the shadows. Just let us be us.”
Fr. Kevin Thompson, OFM Cap., parochial vicar at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington, D.C., said many DACA recipients are parishioners there.
“They’re just doing so well and advancing,” he said, and are “adding to this country.”
It is vital “to keep families together,” he said. He also pointed to the Old Covenant, at which time God told the Israelites to “treat the foreigner well, as you were once foreigners in Egypt.”
The Catholic Legal Immigration Network called the announcement a “a heartbreaking disappointment.” Jeanne Atkinson, the group’s executive director, said many young people have benefited from DACA, with 60 percent of those approved for the program contributing to their family’s finances, 45 percent in school, and 16 percent having bought a home.
“Ending DACA will break apart families, throw potentially millions into impoverished living conditions and shatter the dreams of a better life for young people who did nothing wrong,” Atkinson said.
John Garvey, president of the Catholic University of America, said ending DACA without Congress providing a sufficient legislative solution would be problematic.
“Our country’s moral quality is measured by the way we treat those who most need our assistance. DACA has given young people a shot at an education and a better life. Elimination without a more comprehensive solution means abandonment,” he said.
Ingrid Goes West is a telling and penetrating critique of the iPhone culture that has swallowed up so many young people today. […]
Rome, Italy, Sep 5, 2017 / 02:24 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- More than 20 years ago, Ann Pollak traveled to Calcutta, hoping to volunteer alongside Mother Teresa. The experience would spark a years-long process that would eventually lead her to adopt a severely handicapped child from one of the care centers run by the Missionaries of Charity.
“It has not been easy, at all, but the blessings have far, far outweighed the sacrifices,” Pollak told CNA. “Oddly, in adopting a blind child, I began seeing the world through my own eyes from a different perspective.”
Nearly 16 years ago, Pollak adopted a child from one of Mother Teresa’s orphanages. But adoption was not initially her intent.
In 1995, Pollak travelled to India in order to meet Mother Teresa. She spent two weeks doing volunteer work and was impressed with Mother Teresa’s constant smile, and the fact that despite winning a Nobel Prize and being globally famous, the religious sister was very approachable.
Pollak would return to do volunteer work numerous times in the years that followed. In 1997, about a month before Mother Teresa’s death, she was working with handicapped children. She was assigned to feed one little girl, Rekha, who was blind, autistic and mentally delayed.
“She had the sweetest smile on her face,” Pollak recalled of Rekha. “I just fell in love with her.” She also believed that the child had potential to develop and grow, if she was able to get the proper care and attention from a family.
A year later, Pollak returned to India to see if the little girl was still there. She was.
Pollak said that she wanted to find the young girl a family, or at least a school, somewhere that would be able to offer the proper care for someone with her particular needs.
But as time went on, she became frustrated with her inability to find anyone to care for the girl. She began praying every day, asking God for a solution. Although she had not previously considered adoption, she began to feel an inner call to adopt Rekha.
“I couldn’t find any other solution,” she reflected.
It took almost a year to prepare and get everything in order. Numerous complications arose. Pollak recalled praying what Mother Teresa had termed her “Little Novena” – a series of 9 Memorare prayers offered consecutively.
Within days, the complications had been resolved and the adoption process was complete. “I attribute that to the intercession of Mother Teresa and also the Blessed Virgin Mary,” Pollak said.
Rekha was seven-and-a-half years old at the time of her adoption. Now, she is 23.
Pollak said that her daughter has come a long way. While some of her conditions can never be cured – for example, she was born without eyes, and therefore has no chance of ever being able to see – there are other areas in which she has developed significantly.
Despite autism and mental delays, Rekha was able to start speaking at age 15. Once she started speaking, she began picking up more and more words, and now has a basic vocabulary.
But the transition was not easy. For years after she was taken away from India, Rehka had frequent, violent fits.
“During these fits, she would bite herself, rip off her clothes, throw herself on the floor…and she also physically hurt me,” Pollak said, recalling times that her daughter would bite her or tear out her hair.
Pollak believes that these fits were caused by Rekha’s inability to communicate her needs, combined with insecurity at being transported to a new and unknown life, as well as hormonal changes as she went through puberty.
Thanks to medication and a great deal of devotion and time, Pollak said that “Rekha is today a much calmer individual – the fits still occur but they are much less intense and much less frequent.”
“Rekha has helped me to become a more patient person!” she added.
Many of Pollak’s friends and family were not initially supportive, with some of them believing that she was making a serious mistake. A dear friend told her that she was ruining her life.
Her younger sister was married to an adoptee and was sympathetic and supportive, she recalled. But her older sister made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with the adoption, including assuming any responsibility if anything were to happen Pollak.
But over time, Pollak said she seen how her daughter has brought out the best in humanity.
“Over the almost 16 years that she’s been with me, I have witnessed the graciousness, kindness and love of other human beings, from people whom we’ve met maybe only on a bus ride to people who have become a part of our life,” she said, pointing specifically to the caregivers they had worked with over the years.
“People frequently stare at us in public because we are sort of an ‘odd couple’ and because Rekha is often very boisterous, but those stares are so often accompanied by smiles.”
On Sept. 4 last year, Pollak and Rehka were both able to attend Mother Teresa’s canonization, an opportunity that Pollak considers incredibly special.
“Today, I believe that my mission to meet Mother Teresa indirectly led me to Rekha,” she said, reflecting on her own journey to adoption. While there were many factors in her decision, which unfolded over several years, she said that watching the saint’s work more than 20 years ago was part of the inspiration that led to her become more deeply involved in the life of the girl she would go on to adopt.
“Seeing Mother Teresa’s work in Calcutta and in other places in the word has a strong impact, and can turn a casual observer into a protagonist,” she said.
This story was originally published on CNA Sept. 5, 2017.
Houston, Texas, Sep 5, 2017 / 01:46 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Local Knights of Columbus councils have taken after the passage of Hurricane Harvey, rescuing survivors by boat and providing shelter, food and water to others.
Their efforts on the ground are b… […]
Houston, Texas, Sep 5, 2017 / 12:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Amid the immense devastation left behind in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston assured the people that God is with them in their suffering.
“When we… […]
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