Washington D.C., Jun 20, 2019 / 09:00 am (CNA).- The Supreme Court declared Thursday that a large, cross-shaped war memorial on public land is constitutional.
In a 7-2 decision, the court ruled in the case American Legion v. American Humanist Associat… […]
Denver, Colo., Jun 20, 2019 / 04:00 am (CNA).- One year after credible allegations of sex abuse of a minor led to his public disgrace, the 88-year-old Theodore McCarrick is no longer a cardinal of the Catholic Church, no longer an archbishop, and no lo… […]
Mexico City, Mexico, Jun 20, 2019 / 12:39 am (CNA).- A delegation from the Mexican Bishops’ Conference met June 17 with the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, discussing the country’s migration crisis and efforts to establish peace.
The bishops’ conference said in a statement that they met with López Obrador and discussed “addiction prevention, the advancement of youth, prison ministry, ecology and sustainable development, family, the defense of life, healthcare, and pastoral ministry in the military.”
The bishops told the president “that the Catholic Church wants to fulfill its mission joining the search for the common good within the framework of a positive secularism, where the full exercise of religious freedom strengthens democracy,” the communiqué said.
The Mexican bishops said that they received from López Obrador “a cordial reception, attentive listening, and a great willingness to maintain a collaborative and coordinated effort for the good of the people that inhabit and traverse our homeland.”
With U.S. President Donald Trump threatening tariffs on Mexican imports, López Obrador has agreed to cooperate in stemming the flow of immigrants from Central America. The Mexican government has recently increased troops at its own southern border in an effort to cut back on illegal entrances into the country.
Still, thousands of migrants who have unsuccessfully sought entrance into the U.S. are now opting to remain in Mexico, creating a crisis as resources to support the migrants are strained. More than 80,000 refugee applications are expected in Mexico this year, more than double the number filed last year, according to the LA Times.
The bishops told the president of Mexico that “the Catholic Church wants to continue to contribute to the response to this emergency our country is going through.”
“With its 95 dioceses, 10,000 parishes, more than 130 shelters and with thousands of pastoral workers throughout the national territory, the Church is carrying out an important humanitarian aid and human rights mission,” the bishops explained, which is “a labor that is not always recognized.”
The Church leaders expressed their desire to “join forces” and collaborate with the different levels of government to “guarantee the safety of migrants and pastoral workers.” They voiced their concern about “the criminalization and stigmatization of migrants and human rights advocates.”
The bishops also stressed the need for rule of law and respect for human rights in combatting the violence that has grown rampant in some areas of the country.
“The suffering of so many Mexican families because of violence and the lack of security urgently calls for fraternal collaboration,” they said.
Melbourne, Australia, Jun 19, 2019 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- The four Latin rite ordinaries in Victoria have written a pastoral letter denouncing the state’s “new, and deeply troubling chapter of health care,” as voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide became legal Wednesday.
The Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 took effect June 19.
In a June 14 letter, the bishops of Melbourne, Ballarat, Sale, and Sandhurst wrote that “We cannot cooperate with the facilitation of suicide, even when it seems motivated by empathy or kindness.”
“What is being referred to as ‘VAD’ is a combination of what in plain- speaking is more commonly known as physician assisted suicide and euthanasia,” they noted.
“We feel a responsibility not just to say ‘no’ to VAD, but to give every encouragement to model a way of life that renders VAD unnecessary.”
The Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 allows adult Victoria residents who are terminally ill, expected to die within six months (or 12 if they have a neurodegenerative condition), and mentally competent, to ask their doctor to prescribe drugs that will end their lives.
Two doctors must verify the requester’s eligibility, and the person must make three requests for assisted suicide or euthanasia. Those seeking to end their lives must have lived in Victoria for at least a year, and be an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
According to The Age, a Melbourne daily, pharmacists at The Alfred Hospital will prepare and supply the mixture of drugs. They will deliver to the terminally ill the dose of about 100mL of liquid in a locked box with a key.
The box will include instructions on how to mix and drink the drugs, “and there is no expiry date on when the drugs can be consumed,” The Age reported.
Physicians will be allowed to administer the drugs via an intravenous drip to those incapable of swallowing.
Health practicioners are granted conscientious objection rights against participation in euthanasia or assisted suicide under the law.
About 100 doctors across the nearly 92,000 square mile state “have began receiving the mandatory training required to be allowed to assist terminally ill patients who need medical help to die,” according to The Age.
A review board of 13 medical and legal experts will review assisted suicide-euthanasia applications after the fact to ensure compliance with the law. The board will also be able to recommend improvements to the state government, and refer breaches to police, coronors, or the Australian Health Practicioner Regulation Agency.
The bishops said the legislation has been inappropriately labeled as a compassionate response to terminal illness. They pointed to Pope Francis, who has characterized euthanasia as a feature of a “throw-away culture.”
“Francis calls us to follow Christ by accompanying people with compassion, sharing hope not fear. In Victoria, we have entered a moment in which we are called to join this task,” they said.
“We object to the unnecessary taking of a human life; we object to the diminishment of the love that can be given and received in the last days of our loved ones; we object to the lack of adequate funding for excellent palliative care; we object to state-sponsored practices that facilitate suicide; and most of all we object to the lazy idea that the best response our community can offer a person in acute suffering is to end their life.”
The bishops said that Catholics should accompany those dying, providing them with love and friendship until the last moment of their life. They encouraged Victoria’s Christian community to engage the law with prayer and dialogue.
“We are called to engage with our Victorian communities with friendship and wisdom, not motivated by fear,” they said. “We will not abandon those we love, and we believe they have a right to be loved from the beginning to the end of their life.”
They pointed to the examples of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla and Blessed Franz Jagerstatter, who bore witness to the value of the human person “despite great personal cost.”
The bishops also applauded the efforts of Catholic hospitals.
“Catholic hospitals and Catholic residential care organisations have shown great courage. They have united to find ways to model excellent care for their patients, and are committed to resisting calls to involve themselves in VAD,” they said.
“Please learn about their thoughtful and considered response to VAD, which is framed through their enduring commitment to excellence in end of life care, and show them your support.”
Victoria Health Minister Jenny Mikakos, of the Australian Labor Party, expects the number of persons seeking assisted suicide or euthanasia to be low initially, and increase in later years.
“We anticipate that once the scheme has been in place for some time, we’ll see between 100 and 150 patients access this scheme every year,” Mikakos told the ABC.
“In the first year, we do expect the number to be quite modest — maybe only as low as a dozen people,” she added.
According to The Australian, pro-life supporters held a vigil outside Parliament House in Melbourne June 18.
Denise Cameron, president of Pro-life Victoria, said the law is still widely opposed by those in the medical field.
“The Andrews government has set in motion a regime which will legitimise suicide for our most vulnerable community members, devalue palliative care and pressure doctors into abandoning their medical ethic of first do no harm,” she said.
While the bill was being considered in 2017, Bishop Peter Stasiuk of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne said support of euthanasia and assisted suicide is “motivated by a false sense of compassion.” He wrote in a pastoral letter that “Endorsing suicide as a solution to pain or suffering sends the wrong message, especially to the young. Suicide is a tragedy for the person who takes their own life, but it also seriously affects their family and community. It would be morally corrupt to legally endorse any form of suicide.”
The assisted suicide and euthanasia law has been opposed not only by Catholics, but by leaders of the Greek and Coptic Orthodox Churches, as well as Anglicans and Lutherans.
Advocates for assisted suicide and euthanasia have said the eligibility requirements are too onerous, and intend to challenge them in court, but do hope other Australian states will follow Victoria’s lead.
Queensland and Western Australia are considering similar bills.
New South Wales rejected such a bill in 2017, as did the national parliament in 2016, and that of Tasmania in 2013.
Australia’s Northern Territory legalized assisted suicide in 1995, but the national parliament overturned the law two years later.
St. Louis, Mo., Jun 19, 2019 / 05:49 pm (CNA).- In a legal battle over the closure of Missouri’s last functioning Planned Parenthood, state health department officials cited four botched abortions as part of the reason that they do not want to renew the clinic’s license, according to reports from the AP.
The closure of the clinic would mean the closure of the last abortion clinic in the state. Last month, Planned Parenthood sued the state of Missouri after the health department declined to renew the clinic’s license.
On Friday, June 14, the state’s health department sent the St. Louis clinic and the court “documents, a letter and statement of deficiencies,” the AP reported, which included details on the four botched abortions at the heart of the licensure dispute.
The records, which were published by pro-life group Operation Rescue in an expose, were ordered to be sealed by St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer on Monday, June 17, after Planned Parenthood voiced concerns that the publication of the documents violated their patients’ right to privacy, the AP reported.
William Koebel, a state health department official, told the AP that the records now sealed by the court documented the failed abortions of three patients, whose babies survived after the botched abortions, and required additional surgical or medical abortions to end the pregnancies. Koebel noted that one of the patients with a failed abortion developed sepsis, a serious bacterial infection of the blood stream.
A fourth patient’s abortion at 21 weeks of pregnancy was completed at the clinic, but the patient was hospitalized afterward with “life threatening complications,” Koebel told the AP. He also noted his concerns that some of the botched abortions were done by resident doctors, who have failed to comply with the state health department’s investigation of the clinic.
In early June, Stelzer ruled that doctors, including doctors in residence, who were not currently employed by the St. Louis Planned Parenthood did not have to testify in the state’s investigation of the clinic. Stelzer dismissed the subpoena for their interviews as an “undue burden” on those doctors.
Koebel told the AP that their cooperation is “imperative” for a full investigation.
“Refusal of health care providers to cooperate in the Department’s investigations thwarts the Department’s ability to conduct meaningful review of troubling instances of patient care, and obstructs the Department’s ability to ensure that problems will not be repeated,” Koebel said.
Lawyers representing the Planned Parenthood affiliate secured a restraining order in late May from Stelzer, which allows the clinic to continue operating while its licensure is disputed in court. The clinic’s ability to operate is up for review again on June 21.
In a separate case, on Friday, June 14, St. Louis Circuit Court Judge David Dowd ruled that Missouri’s legislature cannot cut funding from the Planned Parenthood clinic, after the clinic argued that it not only provided abortions, but other health care services, according to a local Fox News affiliate. Missouri Governor Mike Parson said the decision will be appealed.
Parson also recently signed a bill that punishes abortion doctors who perform abortions on a woman who is past eight weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for medical emergencies which seriously threaten the life or quality of life of the mother. The law does not penalize women who obtain abortions.
Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis called the eight-week abortion ban “a giant step forward for the pro-life movement.”
Washington D.C., Jun 19, 2019 / 04:20 pm (CNA).- Exactly one year after revelations about the sexual abuse of then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick were made public, the Church in the U.S. remains in a state of […]
Washington D.C., Jun 19, 2019 / 04:18 pm (CNA).- June 20 marks one year since the announcement that credible allegations of sexual abuse had been raised against then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. In the months that followed, a major crisis of abuse and … […]
Washington D.C., Jun 19, 2019 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- The House of Representatives passed a combination appropriations bill on Wednesday afternoon that renews the Hyde Amendment, preventing federal Medicaid funds from being used for abortions.
The bill pas… […]
Caracas, Venezuela, Jun 19, 2019 / 02:32 pm (CNA).- The Venezuelan bishops have expressed their concern for the risks to which Venezuelan emigrants, especially women, are exposed. More than 4 million Venezuelans have emigrated since 2015.
Under the socialist administration of Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela has been marred by violence and social upheaval, with severe shortages and hyperinflation.
“The Justice and Peace Commission and Caritas urge the authorities in all branches of government to investigate, pursue, prosecute and sentence those responsible for human trafficking crimes,” the bishops said.
They also called for “guaranteeing the relatives of victims direct access and without any kind of obstacles to law enforcement and the justice system so they can present their cases.”
They also asked the authorities to provide the victims with “timely justice without any delay, as established by the Constitution and the different international agreements for the protection of human rights than have been signed and ratified by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”
The commission warned that the vulnerable position of migrants fleeing from destitution could cause them to become victims of human trafficking.
“Migrants can be enslaved by ‘the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs,’” they noted, citing a UN resolution.
In their statement, the bishops said that they met with relatives of the 28 people who disappeared in Güiria following the shipwreck of a boat that left April 3 heading for Trinidad and Tobago.
The relatives indicated that although the bodies of the victims have not been found, “the agencies in charge of carrying out the investigation have not given a timely response.”
“The Commission observes with concern the increase of this type of incident, not just in the eastern part of the country but also in the border areas of Falcón, Brazil and Colombia,” the bishops emphasized.
Another boat carrying 32 Venezuelan emigrants sank on its way to Curaçao earlier this month. Each had paid $400 for the crossing.
The bishops’ commission warned that in the border areas there operate “criminal gangs that put in danger the life and physical integrity and dignity of women, especially youths and minors.”
This situation produces “enormous anxiety and despair” in the families, affecting the children who are left abandoned, they said.
They expressed their commitment to those affected, to whom they will continue to provide support in following up their cases, in order to obtain justice, timely information, and a determination of facts.
“Let us combat the sale of children, women and men as slaves for the purposes of begging, prostitution or forced labor,” they urged.
Some 1.3 Venezuelan emigrants are being hosted by Colombia, and some 800,000 are in Peru.
In a move to restrict the flow of immigrants, Peru mandated June 15 that Venezuelans have a passport and visa to enter the country; previously, only a national ID card was needed.
Washington D.C., Jun 19, 2019 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- The governing body for high school sports in Connecticut is facing a federal complaint after allowing male students to compete in female events.
Three female students, supported by Alliance Defending Fr… […]
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