Washington D.C., Nov 28, 2018 / 04:40 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Students for Life has urged U.S. President Donald Trump to defund Planned Parenthood, and encouraged pro-life advocates to ask the administration to do so.
The pro-life organization issued a l… […]
Tijuana, Mexico, Nov 28, 2018 / 03:01 pm (ACI Prensa).- Archbishop Francisco Moreno Barrón of Tijuana encouraged the faithful Sunday to share “from our poverty” with the Central American migrants arriving in the city.
In his Nov. 25 homily, Archbishop Moreno encouraged sharing “not out of what we have left over but from our poverty. Let us continue to show that solidarity of our peoples.”
Thousands of Central American migrants have reached Tijuana in their attempt to cross the border to the United States. The first migrant caravan, which left Honduras Oct. 13, numbers more than 5,600 people.
Archbishop Moreno said the large number of migrants “took us by surprise” since “we don’t have the conditions to receive them as we have done on other occasions.”
The Archbishop of Tijuana asked Mexican federal authorities to allocate resources to the area “so that we can attend to this extraordinary human emergency,” as well as “international aid, particularly from those humanitarian agencies who always are on scene in these particularly difficult moments.”
The prelate asked the United States to “take the initiative to invest” in Central American countries “so that in the future these disorganized human exoduses that cause so much suffering will not continue.”
Meanwhile, he said, “we as people of faith, only want to recognize the face of Jesus, a migrant face, and give these brothers an response of love.”
“We have a migrant face, we are a migrant Church, a border, a migrant Tijuana and that is why we are more sensitive to giving a hand to these brothers,” he said.
This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Maracaibo, Venezuela, Nov 28, 2018 / 02:07 pm (ACI Prensa).- Archbishop José Luis Azuaje Ayala of Maracaibo on Wednesday condemned the abuse of a female minor by Fr. Iván Marino Padial, for which the priest has been arrested.
According to local media the priest, a member of the Order of Augustinian Recollects and parochial vicar of Most Holy Trinity parish, was arrested Nov. 24 having been caught in the act in his car with a 12-year-old girl.
The case is in the hands of prosecutor’s department for the protection of children.
Archbishop Azuaje and his auxiliary bishop, Ángel Francisco Caraballo Fermin, asked “forgiveness of the minor girl, her relatives, and the entire ecclesial community for the harm they have suffered in our very midst, which could lead them to doubt their faith because of the sin of someone who is called to care for them and encourage them on the path of faithfully following Jesus Christ.”
In a Nov. 28 statement they also expressed their “vigorous and outright condemnation of this lascivious act and of all sexual abuse, especially if such an act is committed by a priest.”
They said the Augustinian Recollects have already begun “the process provided by the Code of Canon Law … so that justice is restored, the scandal repaired, and the guilty cleric reformed.”
This is done “in compliance with and respecting” Venezuelan law, they said.
The statement added that Fr. Marino is prohibited from “the exercise of the priestly ministry in the Archdiocese of Maracaibo.”
The archdiocese reiterated its commitment that these cases would not happen again. After noting that the majority of priests “give their lives out of love,” the prelates encouraged prayer that “the Holy Spirit grant us a Church that ‘would be a living witness of truth and freedom, of peace and justice so all men would be encouraged with new hope.’”
This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Washington D.C., Nov 28, 2018 / 12:47 pm (CNA).- A second miracle attributed to Blessed John Henry Newman has reportedly been approved by the Vatican, fueling expectation that his canonization could occur as early as next year.
Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom wrote in email newsletter to his diocese last week that he had received a copy of the relatio, or official report, about the second miracle needed for Newman’s canonization.
“It looks now as if Newman might be canonised, all being well, later next year,” wrote Egan in the newsletter.
According Fr. Ignatius Harrison, the postulator of Newman’s cause for canonization, there are now two more steps to be taken before Newman can be canonized. First, a commission of bishops has to approve of the canonization, and then Pope Francis must declare him a saint.
Harrison told the U.K.’s Catholic Herald that he too hopes that this will occur in 2019, but added that “there’s no way of knowing” if, or when, this will happen. The Catholic Herald reported that the canonization could occur after Easter 2019.
Newman’s second miracle concerned the healing of an American pregnant woman. The woman prayed for the intercession of Cardinal Newman at the time of a life-threatening diagnosis, and her doctors have been unable to explain how or why she was able to suddenly recover.
This miracle was investigated by the Archdiocese of Chicago, and apparently has new been confirmed.
Sr. Kathleen Dietz, FSO, is a Newman scholar, and vice-chancellor of the Diocese of Erie.
“Cardinal Newman was a man of integrity,” she told CNA. “A word you don’t hear too often, but it simply means that he followed what God wanted him to do, no matter the cost. And it cost him a lot.”
Newman was an Anglican priest and theologian who converted to Catholicism in 1845 at the age of 44. His conversion was very controversial, Dietz explained, and resulted in him losing many of his friends. Even his own sister never spoke to him again.
He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1847, and was made a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in 1879, although he was not a bishop.
Newman was particularly dedicated to education and was a prolific writer. He also founded two schools for boys. Dietz told CNA she suspects that if he were canonized, he could be named the patron of scholars and students.
“He was very much a scholarly person,” she explained, but this did not mean he led an isolated life. “He was extremely practical, and translated a lot of his scholarship into life,” she said.
Newman believed that evangelization of the faith could be done through quality education, Dietz said. Today, Catholic student organizations at non-Catholic universities are often called “Newman Societies” or “Newman Centers” in his honor.
He was beatified in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI. The first miracle attributed to Newman’s intercession involved the complete and inexplicable healing of a deacon from a disabling spinal condition.
Mexico City, Mexico, Nov 28, 2018 / 12:41 pm (CNA).- Controversial “caravans” of Central American migrants have made headlines in recent weeks, and a quagmire at the U.S. southern border remains unresolved.
As policymakers and migrants consider their next steps, some have asked why migrants leave Central America to make a dangerous journey with an uncertain outcome.
Rick Jones, senior adviser on Migration and Public Policy for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Latin America, pointed to “three main reasons: violence, climate change and the lack of opportunities” in their countries of origin.
The first “migrant caravan” of 2018 left Oct. 13 from San Pedro Sula in Honduras. By the time they reached Mexico City in early November, they numbered more than 5,600 people. Other caravans followed in their steps.
“El Salvador and Honduras are among the five most violent countries in the world. In San Pedro Sula, for example, the homicide rate is 100 per 100,000 inhabitants,” Jones said.
For comparison, Jones said that in Los Angeles, “the homicide rate is 6 per 100,000 inhabitants.
“The difference in the levels of violence is overwhelming.”
Regarding climate change, Jones noted that “most rural people in Central America plant corn and beans which require a certain level of rainfall. If there’s too much water, they lose [their crop], if there’s no rain they lose [their crop]. And in Honduras, in the last five years they have had four years of drought, and this year 2018 they had drought followed by flooding. The people lost everything.”
“Finally, the people don’t have many options for work. Most people in El Salvador, for example, work ‘off the books’ and make two or three dollars a day. That’s not enough to meet basic needs.”
Jones said that the migrants “suffer along the way” to the United States. “They walk between eight and nine hours a day and their feet blister, their shoes have holes in them. At this point, many are sick, with respiratory infections and even pneumonia due to the low temperatures in northern Mexico.”
“We’re working with some sisters who are caring for them, but that’s not enough,” he said.
Jones said that CRS works in Central America with rural people, business owners, and young people looking for employment. Programs look to improve circumstances before people feel the need to migrate toward an uncertain future.
“We have a program called ‘Young Builders’ where we help young people get jobs. And we’ve placed about 15,000 young people in jobs throughout the last ten years. But it’s a drop in the ocean.
There’s more than a million youths who aren’t studying or working.”
They also help rural people “have real alternatives to planting corn and beans.”
“In El Salvador we’re supporting the reintroduction of the production of cocoa and that’s generating income, and helps to better manage the water and the issue of the land,” he said.
With these kind of projects, he said, people can hope to earn income and an improve the quality of their lives within their native countries.
This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Geneva, Switzerland, Nov 28, 2018 / 12:18 pm (CNA).- A Vatican representative to the United Nations called on the international community to ban killer robots – known as Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) – in a speech in Geneva last … […]
Newcastle, Australia, Nov 28, 2018 / 11:51 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Lawyers representing Archbishop Philip Wilson, who was convicted in May of failing to report allegations of child sexual abuse disclosed to him in the 1970s, appealed his conviction this week in a Newcastle court.
Archbishop Wilson was convicted May 22 of failing to report abuse committed by Fr. James Fletcher when Fletcher was charged with child sex abuse in 2004. The victims of the scandal, Peter Creigh and another altar boy who is unnamed for legal reasons, said they both had told Wilson in 1976 of their abusive experience with Fr. Fletcher.
The archbishop has maintained his innocence throughout the process, saying he had no recollection of the accusations, and insisting that if he had been notified of the scandal, he would have offered pastoral care to the victims and their families, and reported the event to his superiors.
Archbishop Wilson’s lawyer, Stephen Odgers, argued Nov. 27-28 that Creigh may not have clearly communicated to Wilson that he had been indecently assaulted, suggesting that under the law in 1976, the act described to Wilson was an indecency, but not an assault.
The ABC reported that Newcastle District Court Judge Roy Ellis countered that it was an assault under 1970s law, saying, “I don’t think, in this case, that this is going to be a problem for the prosecution. You have some problems, but this isn’t one of them.”
Odgers also questioned the archbishop’s memory of a conversation held 28 years before Fletcher was charged, and that he may not have known the information could be of assistance to the police.
Ellis stated, “We have all experienced having forgotten something and being reminded about it and realising you had made a mistake and you were wrong,” according to the ABC.
Ellis also noted that Archbishop Wilson’s behavior with a priest who asked him for advice relating to the abuse of another boy by Fletcher was inconsistent with him knowing and failing to report Creigh’s story.
Fr. Glen Walsh approached the archbishop in 2004, who “advised Father Walsh he … should be reporting it to police,” Ellis said.
“The way he acted in my mind runs completely contrary to him realising and then not remembering Peter Creigh’s evidence.”
Archbishop Wilson did not appear in court for the appeal.
Ellis is to deliver his judgement Dec. 6. He has allowed the archbishop not to attend the judgement in person, but rather electronically.
Wilson was sentenced to 12 months of house arrest July 3, and has been serving the sentence at the home of a relative in New South Wales, wearing a tracking device.
9News reported that if Ellis upholds Archbishop Wilson’s conviction, there will be sentencing appeals from both the defence and prosecutors.
Archbishop Wilson resigned as Archbishop of Adelaide July 30, after having said initially he would only do so if his appeal failed.
He said he changed his mind because “there is just too much pain and distress being caused by my maintaining the office of Archbishop of Adelaide, especially to the victims of Fr. Fletcher,” and he had become “increasingly worried at the growing level of hurt” his conviction had caused.
Wilson was ordained a priest in 1975, and consecrated a bishop in 1996.
Houston, Texas, Nov 28, 2018 / 10:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Investigators have executed a search warrant on the chancery offices of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. A search warrant obtained by the district attorney’s office for Montgomery County was served Wednesday morning by officers from the Texas Rangers and Conroe Police Department.
According to local media reports, the district attorney’s office is seeking documents related to the case of Fr. Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, who was arrested by Conroe police in September on four charges of indecency to children.
The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston was unavailable to comment on the search, or to clarify whether it was limited to the case of La Rosa-Lopez.
The district attorney’s office has already conducted searches at two churches where La Rosa-Lopez had been previously assigned – St. John Fisher in Richmond and Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe – as well as the Shalom Treatment Center in Splendora, where La Rosa-Lopez was sent for evaluation and treatment in the early 2000s.
While stationed at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe, Father Manuel La Rosa-Lopez was accused in 2001 of kissing and inappropriately touching a 16 year-old girl. Following consideration of the allegation by both civil authorities and the archdiocesan review board in 2003, La Rosa-Lopez was allowed to return to ministry in 2004.
On Aug. 10, 2018, a 36-year-old man alleged to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston that Fr. Manuel La Rosa-Lopez sexually abused him from 1998-2001, when he was a high school student and La Rosa-Lopez was assigned to Sacred Heart Parish.
The archdiocese said in a statement following La Rosa-Lopez’s arrest Sept. 11 that it had immediately reported the man’s allegation to Child Protective Services.
In October, a third individual came forward with allegations that La Rosa-Lopez had sexually abused him on several occasions during the mid-1990s. According to reports, a lawyer for the third accuser said that the family of the alleged victim had reported La Rosa-Lopez at the time.
La Rosa-Lopez is currently released on bail and scheduled to return to court in January.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, has found himself at the forefront of the American hierarchy’s response to the sexual abuse crisis. He chaired the U.S. bishops’ conference general assembly in early November, during which he announced that the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops had instructed them to delay voting on a proposed code of episcopal conduct or on the creation of an independent commission for investigating allegations of misconduct against bishops.
Last week, DiNardo was the subject of a television report claiming he had knowingly left two priests in active ministry despite “credible accusations” of abuse having been made against them. Cardinal DiNardo denied that either case was “credible.”
Washington D.C., Nov 28, 2018 / 09:44 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that abortion rates in 2015 reached their lowest level in 10 years, although limitations in data collection make … […]
Vatican City, Nov 28, 2018 / 04:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- By reflecting on the Ten Commandments, Christians can examine their hearts to see where disordered attachments and desires have made them in need of Christ’s healing, Pope Francis said Wedne… […]
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