Month: December 2017

Denver, Colo., Dec 19, 2017 / 03:17 pm (CNA).- There are five five shopping days before Christmas.  Are you still searching for a few last-minute presents?  CNA has gift-giving advice from some thoughtful Catholic gift givers:

Archbishop Samuel Aquila, Archbishop of Denver:

One great Christmas tradition I have witnessed in several families is to forego Christmas gifts altogether in favor of gathering together donations for a chosen charity. In a family with several siblings, maybe a different sibling choses the charity each year, and together they are able to make a substantial gift. Even among a group of friends this could be done. What a beautiful testimony this practice is to our young people!

Lauren Ashburn, EWTN News Nightly with Lauren Ashburn
 
My favorite Christmas gift to give this year is from My Saint My Hero. The ”wearable blessings” company is run by a Catholic woman I interviewed this fall for EWTN News Nightly with Lauren Ashburn. She pays women in Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, to make necklaces and bracelets. Their mission is simple: to bring faith, hope and purpose to everyday life. Plus, for the fashionista in me, they come in a gazillion colors!

Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap, Archbishop of Philadelphia

Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas is a marvelous collection of daily seasonal readings from Romano Guardini, C.S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and many other Christian authors.  It’s a wonderful gift that has permanent value.  Mars Hill Audio Journal, produced by Ken Myers, and First Things magazine, edited by R.R. Reno, also make great Christmas presents that keep enriching the mind and spirit throughout the year.

Jeanette De Melo, Editor-in-Chief, National Catholic Register:

Try a gifting a subscription to the National Catholic Register for Christmas. I recently received a wonderful letter from a new Register reader. He said “If, dear sir, it was your intention to keep me rooted in my favorite chair, enjoying my favorite pipe while enthralled by extraordinary substance in your paper, your mission was accomplished.”  The first issue he’d read was our 90th anniversary special edition, and he remarked that the only difficulty with this paper was that it had set the bar so high. “But considering you’ve been doing this for 90 years, I’m not too concerned! Here’s to many more years of the Register!” I hope many more people could enjoy a leisurely pace and thoughtful read with our newspaper. And we’ll be celebrating 90 years all year long!

JD Flynn, Editor-in-Chief, Catholic News Agency

I’ve given Archbishop Chaput’s Strangers in a Strange Land, George Weigel’s Lessons in Hope, and Fr. Thomas Joseph White’s The Light of Christ to a lot of people on my list this year. They’re some of the more interesting and important books I’ve read in 2017. I’ve also given donations on behalf of friends and family to Christians in the Middle East, through the Christian Near East Welfare Association. But if you want to give the best possible gift to your family, turn off your phone on December 23rd, and don’t turn it on again until the 26th.  They’ll appreciate it more than you realize, and so will you.

Leah Libresco, Catholic Author and Speaker

I’d recommend The Little Oratory by Leila Marie Lawler & David Clayton to a household of any size. My husband and I have been reading the practical, tender guide to expanding your prayer habits at home all year, and we’ve gotten a lot out of it (an icon wall, a cross in the kitchen to kiss when exiting, etc.). We’re planning to spend some time over the holidays to figure out what we might take on/receive from God next! Plus, of course, if you know someone who’s tentatively exploring Catholicism, you can always get them my Arriving at Amen, about learning to pray as a convert from atheism, and embracing faith as a second language.

Curtis Martin, Founder and CEO, FOCUS

In our family we have minimized the gift giving by working together with Cross Catholic International. As a family, we sit down and evaluate various projects and determine together, who we would like to support. It has been a blessing to provide a well and fresh water, or education and care for children with special needs, or food for the hungry.

Chris Stefanick, Real Life Catholic

Two things:
1. My book, Joy to the World! It’s short meditations on the best news ever, and the best gift ever: God’s unmerited, unconditional love for us. And it’s the perfect evangelistic stocking stuffer.
2: Homemade candy. Because nothing communicates love like sweetness. 🙂

Michael P Warsaw, Chairman of the Board and CEO, EWTN Global Catholic Network

I suppose it’s not surprising that I would recommend Mother Angelica on Prayer and Living for the Kingdom as the perfect Christmas gift.  This book brings together, for the very first time, Mother’s timeless advice on how to deepen your prayer life and achieve your ultimate purpose— eternity in Heaven with Jesus. With some of Mother Angelica’s own original prayers, this makes a wonderful gift that someone can take with them to adoration or a Holy Hour.  It’s a gift that delivers eternal rewards!

George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Author

I’d suggest giving Matthew Levering’s fine book, An Introduction to Vatican II as an Ongoing Theological Event: the perfect gift for Catholics across the spectrum of opinion, and especially for those under fifty for whom the Council has, at best, a murky image. Levering puts Christ back at the center of the Council, which is what the Council Fathers intended, as too few understand, or do, today.

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Pittsburgh, Pa., Dec 18, 2017 / 04:21 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Despite the long efforts of Catholics and others who have sought to prevent mandatory employer health care coverage of contraception, a federal judge in Pennsylvania has placed a temporary injunction on the Trump administration’s new rules granting a broad religious or moral exemption.

“The Pennsylvania court’s decision harms faith-based nonprofits and others who have fought for over half a decade to correct the serious injustice caused by the HHS Mandate,”  said Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty.

Judge Wendy Beetlestone granted the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s request for a preliminary injunction on Dec. 15. She said the commonwealth could suffer “serious and irreparable harm” from the rules, Politico reports.

In the decision granting the injunction, Beetlestone wrote that a lack of cost-effective contraception would mean that women would either forgo contraception or choose less effective methods and result in “individual choices which will result in an increase in unintended pregnancies.” This would create economic harm for the commonwealth because “unintended pregnancies are more likely to impose additional costs on Pennsylvania’s state-funded health programs.”

The 2010 Affordable Care Act, and resulting rules issued by the Obama administration’s Department of Health and Human Services mandated that employer health plans cover sterilization and contraception, including drugs that can cause abortion. The mandate drew opposition from Catholics and others.  

On Oct. 6, the Trump administration established new rules, allowing companies with religious or moral objections to contraception to opt out of the mandate.

Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh was the lead plaintiff in one of the lawsuits challenging the Obama-era rule. He challenged the rule on behalf of Catholic Charities of Pittsburgh. The lawsuit was settled Oct. 17, with Zubik declaring the settlement as a restoration of First Amendment guarantees.

Ann Rodgers, communications director for the Pittsburgh diocese, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “We have asked our attorneys to study the decision but we understand it should have no impact on the previous resolution of our case.” A permanent injunction was granted to the Diocese of Pittsburgh and related entities in 2013.

“We expect and pray that the courts reviewing this decision will uphold the government’s new regulations that protect religious liberty,” said Kurtz.

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Chicago, Ill., Dec 18, 2017 / 03:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Peruvian officials have charged Chicago area resident Jeffrey Daniels with abuse that occurred while he was part of the Catholic group Sodalitium Christianae Vitae in Peru.

Daniels, who has been living in the U.S. since 2001, was charged along with three other men “with conspiracy to commit sexual, physical and psychological abuse,” according to Peruvian court documents obtained by the Chicago Tribune.

Among the men charged is Luis Fernando Figari, the founder of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), as well as Virgilio Levaggi and Daniel Murgui.  

The SCV is a society of apostolic life which was founded in 1971 in Peru, and granted pontifical recognition in 1997. Alejandro Bermúdez, executive director of CNA, is a member of the community.

The community has been under investigation after the publication of a book by journalists Paola Ugaz and Pedro Salinas, chronicling years of alleged sexual, physical and psychological abuse by members of the SCV. In addition to Peru, the community operates in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, the United States, and Italy.

In February of this year, a team of independent investigators commissioned by the Sodalitium reported that “Figari sexually assaulted at least one child, manipulated, sexually abused, or harmed several other young people; and physically or psychologically abused dozens of others.”

The report also identified Daniels as a serious offender, accused of abusing at least 12 minors between 1985 and 1997. 

The report concluded that “between 1975 and 2000 and once in 2007, five members of Sodalitium, including Figari, sexually abused minors.”

Figari stepped down as superior general of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae in 2010. In February 2017, the Vatican’s congregation for religious life issued a decree forbidding him from any contact with the religious community, and banning him from returning to Peru without permission from the current superior of the Sodalitium. Figari was also forbidden to make any public statements.

According to reports obtained by the Chicago Tribune, Daniels has confirmed his connection with the SCV but has denied any wrongdoing, and the details of his life in the U.S. remain largely unknown.

U.S. officials have said that Daniels has no criminal record or known allegations in the U.S., but that they have established contact with him and will cooperate with the ongoing investigation. 

Peruvian Congressman Alberto de Belaunde said in a statement released to the Tribune that Daniels took advantage of his proximity to minors during his time in the SCV to abuse them, and “has been silent and has chosen to forget. But the victims do not forget and neither will a country with dignity. In addition to ensuring that justice is served, it is important to ensure that there are no more victims.”

A criminal investigation against the four accused men began in January 2017. Last week, a Peruvian prosecutor requested incarceration for the men while the investigation continues. Peruvian law permits judges to remand suspects of criminal activity to incarceration while they are being investigated, if they are considered flight risks, or a risk to pose grave danger.

Travel restrictions have also been requested for Ricardo Treneman and Oscar Tokumura, two other members of the community.

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Washington D.C., Dec 18, 2017 / 12:02 pm (CNA).- From a glass of beer at dinner to the wine transubstantiated at the Last Supper, sharing a drink has held a profoundly important place in shaping people’s lives through the ages.

In fact, accordin… […]