Month: August 2018

No Picture
News Briefs

Tyburn Nuns to open chapel at foundress’ birthplace

August 3, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

London, England, Aug 3, 2018 / 10:30 am (CNA/EWTN News).- An order of Benedictine nuns based near the site in London where Catholics were martyred during the Reformation announced Friday they will soon open a house at the childhood home of their foundress, whose cause for canonization was opened in 2016.

The Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Montmartre, OSB, will formally open a chapel in Grancey-le-Chateau, 25 miles southest of Langres, France, Aug. 15, at the property where their foundress, Mother Marie-Adèle Garnier, was born in 1838.

“We give thanks to the Sacred Heart for this historic moment for our Congregation. Our sisters from all over the world are gathered here together to remember the birth of our foundress – the birth of our Monastic Family,” Mother Marilla Aw, OSB, superior general of the order, said Aug. 3.

“We hope that the opening of this house will be an impetus for many people to come to know the charism of our Mother Foundress who is now a Servant of God. Her teachings are profound, and she has already led many souls to the adoration of the Heart of Jesus hidden in the Eucharist.”

The chapel at the site, Maison Garnier, is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption. The nuns hope the site will become a pilgrimage destination for those devoted to Mother Marie-Adèle. The property includes a museum and a conference and retreat center.

Mother Marie-Adèle founded the Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Montmartre in 1898. The order is dedicated to perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

In 1901, the anti-clerical French government passed the Law of Associations, which greatly expanded the state’s authority over religious orders and regulated their educational work. As a result, the sisters went into exile in London, where they were able to freely wear a habit for the first time.

They eventually settled at Tyburn, the London site where in the 16th and 17th centuries several hundred martyrs – priests, religious, and lay men and women – were executed by the Protestant state for their refusal to give up their Catholic faith.

Throughout her life as a religious, Mother Garnier, who now went by Mother Mary of St. Peter, experienced intense physical suffering, so much so that when she went more than two hours without suffering, she wondered if Christ had forgotten her.

Despite her sufferings, which included debilitating migraines, her sisters say she remained cheerful and gentle with everyone, and counseled other sisters through their trials.

The order as a whole also suffered financial problems and strange demonic attacks, including instances of possession or objects being picked up and thrown across the room. But Christ promised Mother Mary of St. Peter that he would not let the order dissolve.

In 1922, Christ appeared to Mother Mary of St. Peter and told her that she would suffer and die soon. For the next two years, she suffered intense chest pains and congestion problems, until she became bedridden.

On November 15, 1923, on a Host a priest brought her, she saw the Heart of Jesus, alive in the Eucharist. She died June 17, 1924 at the Tyburn convent.

Her cause for canonization was opened Dec. 3, 2016 by Bishop Joseph-Marie-Edouard de Metz-Noblat of Langres.

Today, the contemplative order has spread throughout the world, with convents in England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Italy, and France.

[…]

No Picture
News Briefs

Coptic Orthodox bishop found dead in suspected murder

August 2, 2018 CNA Daily News 1

Cairo, Egypt, Aug 2, 2018 / 06:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Coptic Orthodox bishop was was found dead as a result of a suspected murder in St. Macarius Monastery in Egypt on Sunday.

Bishop Epiphanius, who died July 29, was abbot of the monastery, which is located in Egypt’s Beheira governorate, about 60 miles northwest of Cairo.

His body had injuries to his head and back that suggest that he had been hit by a sharp object, according to the preliminary security investigation.

The bishop was remembered for his wisdom, simplicity and humility by Tawadros II, Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria, who celebrated Bishop Epiphanius’ funeral Mass on Tuesday.

“Just as the meaning of his name is light, he also enlightened our world. We are extremely saddened by his departure but we live on in hope of the resurrection when we bid farewell to all our loved ones,” Tawadros II said at the July 31 funeral, according to Ahram Online.

According to The Coptic Orthodox Church Centre, Bishop Epiphanius was born June 27, 1954 in Egypt’s Tanta governorate. He joined St Macarius Monastery in February 1984, and became a monk in April of that year. He was ordained a priest Oct. 17, 2002, and consecrated a bishop March 10, 2013.

In Defence of Christians (IDC) condemned the “horrific attack” on Bishop Epiphanius, calling it “the latest in a string of violence against Coptic Christians that has increased sharply in 2017 and 2018.”

Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority has suffered continued attacks since the 2015 Islamic State beheading of 21 men. In December 2017, ten people were reported dead after terrorists attacked a Coptic church near Cairo. Forty-nine Christians died in church bombings on Palm Sunday in 2017. A Coptic priest was murdered in a knife attack in Cairo in October 2017.

IDC called on the U.S. Administration and the State Department to hold Egypt accountable for the treatment of Coptic Christians.

Tawadros II announced Aug. 2 that Coptic Orthodox monasteries will stop accepting seminarians for one year, Egypt Today reported.

The Coptic Orthdox Church is an Oriental Orthodox Church, meaning it rejected the 451 Council of Chalcedon, and its followers had historically been considered monophysites – those who believe Christ has only one nature – by Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox, though they are not considered so any longer.

[…]

No Picture
News Briefs

Ecuador congress affirms parents’ rights to educate kids on sexuality

August 2, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

Quito, Ecuador, Aug 2, 2018 / 05:51 pm (ACI Prensa).- The National Assembly of Ecuador on July 31 unanimously upheld the right of parents to educate their children “in accordance with their principles, beliefs, and educational choices” without interference from the State in issues such as sex education.

The legislature’s gesture came in response to recent rulings by the Constitutional Court, including a June 27 decision which takes away “the protective authority of parents” and gives it to the state as the outside guarantor when considering the “rights” of minors “in education and sexual and reproductive health.”

Viviana de González, president of the Family and Future Foundation, said that the National Assembly’s 70-0 ratification of parental rights is supported by Article 29 of the Constitution of Ecuador as well as the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights.

“Although this political pronouncement by the legislative branch is not binding on the [recent] ruling of the Constitutional Court, it’s a clear response to the citizens’ public demonstration of a half million parents who took to the streets July 28 in more than 10 cities in the country,” she said.

The march was held in opposition to the government’s intention to impose gender ideology in education. It also demanded that any attempt to legalize abortion in the country be definitively shelved.

Demonstrators marched under the themes #ConMisHijosNoTeMetas (Don’t mess with my children) #EnfoquedeFamilia (Focus on the Family), #AmisHijosLosEducoYo (I’m the one to educate my children), and #SalvemosLas2Vidas (Save both lives).

De González said that the recent resolution by the National Assembly also urges the Constitutional Court and other state agencies to “protect parental rights, the family, childhood and adolescence.”

“Organizations such as the National Front for the Family will remain vigilant so that this resolution leads to concrete actions in support of the family in the different courts of the State,” she said.

 

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

[…]

No Picture
News Briefs

How banning plastic straws could impact the disabled

August 2, 2018 CNA Daily News 1

Washington D.C., Aug 2, 2018 / 04:21 pm (CNA).- Sea turtles often sleep wedged beneath boulders on the ocean floor, or tucked below protruding ridges in coral reefs. They live, quite literally, under rocks. This means that sea turtles likely haven’t heard that plastic drinking straws can kill them, and the straws are being banned in cities across the country.

Unlike sea turtles, most people don’t live under rocks. Which means that most people, or at least most Americans, have heard in recent weeks of the mortal danger that disposable straws might cause for sea turtles, and of recent efforts to forbid those straws.

A recent focus on the danger posed by discarded drinking straws for turtles and other aquatic life is widely credited to an online video that went viral this summer, showing a sea turtle struggling with a straw stuck up its nostril.

The video has attracted fervent public enthusiasm to curb the use of drinking straws. In recent weeks, many companies and cities have taken the step to ban single-use plastic straws, citing environmental concerns.

Starbucks announced that it would eliminate them from its stores by 2020, and the Walt Disney Co. followed suit shortly afterwards, saying it would cease using plastic straws and stirrers at its theme parks by 2019.

The city of Santa Barbara, California, took the unusual step of threatening jail time for those who distribute straws, while San Francisco’s city-wide ban is so expansive it actually prohibits one of the biodegradable alternatives that is encouraged by other other cities considering bans, including New York and Seattle.

But questions have arisen about just how actually effective these laws and policies will be for the environment, and some groups say that their lives will be made harder when straws are not available. And one Catholic theologian has told CNA that policymakers looking for ways to protect the environment should always consider the broader context of their work, and beware of unintended consequences.

Speaking about the recent focus on single use plastics, particularly drinking straws, by many companies and cities, Dr. Joe Capizzi, a moral theologian at the Catholic University of America and executive director of the school’s Institute for Human Ecology explained that “any environmental activity is going to affect different populations differently.”

Capizzi told CNA that well-motivated policy changes, like those banning plastic straws, can have unintended consequences, and policymakers should consider those who could be unexpectedly affected.

Responsible stewardship of the planet has been a point of emphasis for Pope Francis, most notably in his 2015 encyclical letter Laudato si, on the care of our common home.

In a message marking the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation in 2016, the pope called efforts to protect the natural environment a service to both the planet and to humanity, calling it a “work of mercy.”

Francis has emphasized especially a “human ecology” that recognizes the dignity of the human person, and man’s relationship to the environment.

The move to ban drinking straws has raised questions about how environmental policies can impact human dignity.

Disability-rights advocates point out that some people with physical or neurological disorders rely on plastic straws as tool of daily life. They say that drinking straw bans can cause real hardship for people with conditions like cerebral palsy, pointing out that for some people, a straw can be the difference between independence and needing help to drink.

“It’s no surprise, then, the bans on straws will impact different segments of society differently. Straws help provide a measure of independence to some people with disabilities,” Capizzi said.

More eco-friendly alternatives, such as straws made from metal, bamboo, and paper, are not as always as suitable as single-use plastic straws. Metal straws can get too hot, are not positionable, and can possibly break teeth, especially among people with certain disabilities. Paper straws can’t be used in hot liquids, and they dissolve, creating a choking hazard, advocates say.

At the same time, some argue that straw bans may actually do little to protect the environment. Popular support for bans on single use plastics tends to focus on oceanic pollution, as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is now calculated to be more than 600,000 square miles. Yet straws compose only 0.02 percent of waste found in the ocean. Fishing gear–which the World Wildlife Fund identifies as the biggest threat to sea turtles–is the largest source of plastic waste.

Capizzi urged that while Catholics work to protect the planet as a common home for all humanity, they give attention to the personal concerns of those who might be left behind by advertising campaigns and popular videos.

“You may recall years ago, the Montreal Protocol was passed and implemented to address chlorofluorocarbons and their adverse effects on the ozone layer. Because some medicines were delivered by CFCs, special carve-out provisions were provided so those people could continue to receive their medicine cheaply and effectively,” he said.

“The move to look at the impact of plastics on the environments is well-intentioned: reliable evidence points out damaging effects of plastics on our environment. But before proceeding, care should be taken to weigh the impact this limited ban will have on populations for whom plastic straws are no mere convenience.”

[…]