Jesuits in western U.S. to name members credibly accused of abuse

Washington D.C., Nov 3, 2020 / 10:30 am (CNA).-  

Catholic and political leaders paid tribute to the late EWTN News president Andrew Walther on Monday and Tuesday. Walther, who died Nov. 1, was remembered as a communications strategist, an advocate for persecuted Christians, a faithful Catholic, and a husband and father.

Walther died on All Saints’ Day, from complications related to leukemia. He had become EWTN News president and chief operating officer earlier this year.

After Walther’s death, EWTN CEO and board chairman Michael Warsaw said that “Andrew Walther’s death is a source of great sadness for all of us at EWTN and for me personally. Although Andrew had only been in his role as President and Chief Operating Officer of EWTN News since June, he had already accomplished so much. He had also been a friend and collaborator for many years before joining the Network. His death is a great loss for all who knew him, for EWTN and for the Church.”

Jeanette DeMelo, editor-in-chief of the National Catholic Register, also remembered Walther’s work at EWTN News.

“In a year that has thrown us all extraordinary challenges, and in which he personally carried the burden of the illness that would take his life, Andrew remained calm and steady — even joyful — at the helm,” De Melo said.

“In less than five months with EWTN News his impact was wide, and his leadership will be greatly missed.”

Before he joined EWTN News, Walther was vice president for communications and strategic planning at the Knights of Columbus, where he had begun working in 2005. There he was instrumental in organizing the distribution of millions of dollars in aid to persecuted Christians, especially in Syria and Iraq.

In the Iraqi Christian town of Karamles, the Knights helped Christian genocide survivors resettle and rebuild.

Archbishop Bashar Warda of the Chaldean Catholic archdiocese of Erbil praised Walther’s work on behalf of Iraqi Christian survivors of the ISIS genocide.

“The persecuted Christians of the world had no greater friend than Andrew,” Archbishop Warda told CNA in a statement. “His knowledge and wisdom guided us in so many ways over these past five years.”

The White House also issued a statement of condolence for Walther on Monday.

“Our prayers go out to Andrew Walther’s loved ones and the entire EWTN family,” Sarah Matthews, White House deputy press secretary, said in a statement to CNA.

“He leaves behind an extraordinary legacy of service to the Catholic Church and defending persecuted religious minorities throughout the world. May he rest in peace.”

Advocates for persecuted Christians said Walther’s role in the region was estimable.

Father Benedict Kiely, founder of an organization dedicated to assisting persecuted Christians in the Middle East, recalled that Walther made a concrete difference in difficult and complex situations.

“His influence in Iraq was astonishing,” said Father Kiely, a priest of the personal ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. “He truly had a passion for the persecuted and used all his considerable skills to raise the issue and provide support.”

Walther played a central role in moving U.S. policy in favor of protecting Christians in the Middle East, said Nina Shea, an expert on religious freedom at the Hudson Institute.

Walther organized a media awareness campaign, and directed a critical fact-finding report to prove that Christians had been targeted by ISIS for genocide in Iraq and Syria.

Kathryn Jean Lopez, director of the Center for Religion, Culture, and Civil Society at the National Review Institute, praised Walther’s wisdom and prudence in working with both the Church and the U.S. government for the common good.

Praising Walther’s “knowledge and experience and connections,” Lopez added that “honestly no one but God could ever know the extent of his interventions.”

“He was a problem solver, he was always seeing things many steps ahead. He had a wisdom about him that always seemed to me of the Holy Spirit.”

Robert Nicholson is executive director of the Philos Project, which advocates on behalf of Christians in the Near East. Nicholson said that despite Walther’s accomplishments in helping preserve Christianity in the region, he never sought the spotlight.

“Some leaders like to shout their achievements from the housetops, but that wasn’t Andrew,” Nicholson told CNA in a statement. “He was the guy working behind the scenes to build coalitions, catalyze other leaders, and find practical means for pursuing lofty ends.”

Catholic leaders agreed that Walther’s role was critical in helping preserve a Christian presence in the Middle East.

“There is nobody who worked harder and with more hope and perseverance on our behalf,” Archbishop Warda said.

“We may never know how many Christians are living safer, better lives in the Near East today because of this one man,” Nicholson said.

Lopez noted that “if Christianity survives in Iraq and Syria — the cradle of Christianity — it will be in no small part because of his efforts.”

The National Catholic Register contributed to this story.

[…]

Long-time pro-life activist Eva Edl (left) prays in front of a Senate office building on Capitol Hill, Sept. 6, 2001 to protest US President George W. Bush’s decision to allow limited stem cell research. / Credit: MIKE THEILER/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Aug 21, 2024 / 14:14 pm (CNA).

An elderly survivor of a Soviet concentration camp and six other pro-life advocates were convicted of blocking access to a Michigan abortion clinic, the latest in a high-profile series of judgments against anti-abortion demonstrators in federal courts.

The seven defendants in the case were found guilty for their involvement in a “blockade of a reproductive health care clinic in Sterling Heights, Michigan” on Aug. 27, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release on Tuesday. 

The demonstrators were convicted of both a felony conspiracy against rights and a Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act offense, the government said. Sentencing will be set at a later date. 

Kristen Clarke, an assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, claimed the pro-life activists had “orchestrated an unlawful clinic blockade and physically obstructed patients seeking access to their doctors, without regard to the serious medical needs of the women they blocked from accessing reproductive health care.”

The defendants — Calvin Zastrow, Chester Gallagher, Heather Idoni, Caroline Davis, Joel Curry, Justin Phillips, Eva Edl, and Eva Zastrow — reportedly staged the demonstration as part of a “Michigan Holiness Revival Tour,” one that allegedly set out with the “express purpose of blockading a reproductive health clinic,” the Justice Department said. 

The 89-year-old Eva Edl is a well-known pro-life activist and a survivor of a communist concentration camp who fled Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe.

Her biography reveals that her mother was kidnapped by the Soviets in postwar Europe after which she and her siblings were sent to communist concentration camps in Yugoslavia. She eventually escaped and emigrated to the United States.

The Biden administration has aggressively prosecuted several FACE Act cases over the last few years, handing out prison sentences to men and women who attempted to block access to abortion clinics around the country. 

Some of the activists found guilty this week, including Eva Edl, were also found guilty earlier this year of a similar abortion clinic blockade in Tennessee in 2021. Edl has yet to be sentenced for that conviction. 

Last year multiple pro-life activists were convicted under the FACE Act for an October 2020 demonstration at the Washington Surgi-Clinic run by Cesare Santangelo in Washington, D.C.

Pro-life advocate Lauren Handy, 30, was sentenced in May to four years and nine months in prison for organizing the protest. 

Several other demonstrators ultimately received prison sentences ranging from about two to three years.

Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy and 25 House Republicans last year introduced a resolution to repeal the FACE Act, arguing that the Biden administration had “brazenly weaponized the FACE Act against normal, everyday Americans across the political spectrum, simply because they are pro-life.” 

Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, indicated earlier this year that he would move to release some of the convicted pro-lifers from prison if he is re-elected president in November. 

“Many people are in jail over this.… We’re going to get that taken care of immediately — [on the] first day,” he told the Faith and Freedom Coalition in June. 

[…]

Solar panels on the affordable housing Bishop Valero Residence in Astoria, Queens. / Credit: Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens

CNA Staff, May 6, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Catholic dioceses around the U.S. are setting ambitious goals and launc… […]