Seattle, Wash., Aug 7, 2019 / 05:50 pm (CNA).- High school tennis players who observe the Sabbath on Saturday have challenged a Washington state athletics association in court, saying its rules wrongly disqualify them from participating in the tennis postseason.
Joelle Chung and her brother Joseph Chung, represented by the religious freedom legal group Becket, are challenging the rules of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, saying it should allow religious accommodations like it grants similar accommodations for other players.
Joelle was undefeated in her 2019 senior season playing for William F. West High School in Chehalis, Washington. She expected to win the qualifying tournaments to advance to the state tournament, which was scheduled for a Saturday. Both siblings are Seventh-Day Adventists who observe the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday through rest and worship, Becket said.
The tournament disqualified Joelle from all participation in the postseason, though her religious conflict with the tournament fell only on the last day.
The athletics association is authorized by state law to schedule interscholastic sports and other activities. Its failure to accommodate the Chung siblings’ religious observance and its discrimination against religious exercise is “unconstitutional” and “illegal,” charged the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Joe Davis, legal counsel at Becket, said Aug. 7 that the athletics association’s failure to provide religious accommodations “hurts religious minorities and students of many faiths who honor the longstanding practice of keeping the Sabbath.”
“No student athlete should be kept from competition because of their faith,” he said Aug. 7.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association told CNA it does not comment on pending litigation.
Association rules require all participants to certify they will be able to participate in each level of the tournament to qualify for the championships. The rules make exceptions for injury, illness, or unforeseen events.
The Chungs had proposed moving the state championships or allowing Joelle to participate in the qualifying tournaments and use an alternate for the championships – the practice of athletes who are injured or ill. However, the association rejected these proposals.
Joelle is challenging the rules in hopes that her brother Joseph can participate in the state championships.
“As a senior, it was hard giving everything I had to support my team all season, only to be forced to sit out the entire postseason simply because of my faith,” she said. “I’ll never get the chance to play for a state championship again, but hopefully this case will protect other Seventh-day Adventists like my brother from having to choose between sports and their faith.”
Joelle’s coach Jack State discussed the lack of accommodations for her religious objections to Saturday play in comments to the Lewis County-based newspaper The Daily Chronicle earlier this year.
“It’s disappointing, she’s worked hard for four years to put herself in a position to try to do the best she can and she’s not being allowed to do that,” he said.
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Lisa, Katharine, and Bruce Alexander. / Screenshot EWTN Pro-Life Weekly
Denver Newsroom, Nov 25, 2021 / 09:00 am (CNA).
Biological parents to two daughters and two sons, Bruce and Lisa Alexander first considered adoption after their youngest wa… […]
Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, the outgoing president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, speaking on Nov. 15, 2022, at the conference’s fall assembly in Baltimore. / Screenshot from USCCB video
Washington D.C., Jan 6, 2023 / 16:45 pm (CNA).
At a Jan. 5 memorial Mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Archbishop José Gomez of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said that while the late pope will be remembered for his great intellect, his real legacy will be the love he had for Jesus and those he led to Jesus.
His homily, delivered at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, follows:
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
We thank the loving God today for the life and witness of our beloved Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, as he was laid to rest earlier this morning in Rome.
With the words of Pope Francis from the funeral Mass, we pray for Benedict: “May your joy be complete as you hear his voice, now and forever!”
I’ve had the privilege to know and minister under three popes — St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and now the Holy Father Pope Francis.
Each has his own distinctive personality and pastoral style. In my own ministry, I draw inspiration and guidance from all of them, from their words, and even more from their example.
I will always be grateful to Pope Benedict because he chose me to be archbishop here in Los Angeles. It has been the blessing of my life to be your shepherd and pastor.
In my experience, Pope Benedict was a gentle soul, a beautiful man. It is true that he was a great teacher and biblical theologian, and one of the most brilliant minds in the history of the Church and Western civilization.
But I will remember him, most of all, for his kindness to me and his deep humility.
I remember his smile as he was imposing the pallium on me on the altar at the St. Peter Basilica on June 29, 2011. He asked me about my archdiocese. And as I said Archdiocese of Los Angeles, he smiled and said: “It is a big archdiocese!” I responded, “Yes, please pray for me!” He then assured me that he would pray for me and for the archdiocese.
Our pope emeritus put Jesus Christ at the center of his life. And leading men and women to friendship with Jesus was the purpose of his life.
In his first homily as pope, Benedict told us: “Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. … There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know him and to speak to others of our friendship with him.
We see this beautiful encounter in the Gospel today, the story of the calling of Nathanael.
Our Christian life, the life of faith, always begins with an invitation.
It begins in friendship, in witness. One heart speaking to another heart about the love that they have found in Jesus.
This story that we hear today is from the early days of Jesus’ public ministry. Philip has just met Jesus and begun to follow him. Now he goes to invite his friend, Nathanael.
They both know the Scriptures, the writings of Moses and the prophets, and Philip tells Nathanael that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah they’ve been taught to hope for.
As we heard, Nathanael doesn’t believe him at first. But Philip is not discouraged. He says, simply: “Come and see.”
Philip makes this gentle invitation, and Jesus does the rest.
My brothers and sisters, Pope Benedict XVI is right: There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel! Nothing more beautiful than to meet Jesus!
He understood that the modern world is moving away from God, that faith is fading from the hearts of many people, that our society is growing cold and intolerant toward religion.
But he also knew that God is not finished with his creation, not done building his kingdom on earth. Jesus is still calling, still knocking at the door of every human heart.
Pope Benedict reminded us: the Church’s mission is Christ’s mission — to seek and to save the lost. It’s not just about popes and bishops, priests and religious. All of us share in this mission! Every one of us who has been baptized.
Each of us is called — in our own way and in our own lives — to be like Philip. Speaking to others of our love for Jesus and our friendship with him. Calling others to “Come and see.”
It really is true: when we meet the living God in Jesus Christ and follow him, our life changes.
To be surprised by the Gospel is to discover the truth about where we come from, and what we are living for.
Brothers and sisters, Jesus knows and loves each one of us, just as he knew and loved Nathanael. We heard in the first reading today: “God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.”
And Jesus makes the same promise to you that he made to Nathanael: when you come to him, “you will see greater things.”
When we allow his love to fill our hearts — the gate of heaven stands open before us. We see with certainty that we walk in the light of his presence, in the company of angels and saints. The little things in our everyday lives become like a ladder leading us to heaven.
I am confident that Pope Benedict will be remembered among “the great names in the history of God’s dealings with mankind.
But as he looks on the face of God and hears his voice, his legacy will not be one of great words and important books.
His legacy will be the countless souls who found friendship with Jesus through his love, through his gentle invitation to “Come and see.”
Let us honor his memory by renewing our own friendship with Jesus, and dedicating ourselves once more to the beautiful task of bringing others to be surprised by the Gospel!
May Mary Most Holy pray for us, and keep us all under the mantle of her protection.
Sister Scholastica Radel (left) and Mother Abbess Cecilia Snell of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, discuss the recent exhumation of the order’s foundress, Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, in an interview with EWTN News In Depth on May 30, 2023, at their abbey in Gower, Missouri. / EWTN News
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 4, 2023 / 08:00 am (CNA).
Her flashlight was dim, so when Mother Abbess Cecilia Snell first peered inside the cracked coffin lid and saw a human foot inside a black sock where one would expect to find only bone and dust, she didn’t say anything.
Instead, she took a step back, collected herself, and leaned in for another look, just to be sure. Then she screamed for joy.
“I will never forget that scream for as long as I live,” recalled Sister Scholastica Radel, the prioress, who was among the members of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, who were present to exhume the remains of their foundress, Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster.
“It was a very different scream than any other scream,” the abbess agreed. “Nothing like seeing a mouse or something. It was just pure joy. ‘I see her foot!’”
What the sisters discovered that day would cause a worldwide sensation: Roughly four years after her burial in a simple wooden coffin, Sister Wilhelmina’s unembalmed body appeared very much intact.
In an exclusive TV interview with EWTN News In Depth, the two sisters shared details of their remarkable discovery — revealing, among other things, that Sister Wilhelmina’s body doesn’t exhibit the muscular stiffness of rigor mortis — and reflected on the deeper significance of the drama still unfolding at their Abbey of Our Lady of Ephesus in rural Gower, Missouri.
They also clarified that Sister Wilhelmina’s coffin was exhumed on April 28, nearly three weeks earlier than CNA had understood. The sisters explained that it took about two weeks to remove dirt, mold, and mildew before they moved her body to the church. You can hear excerpts from the interview and other commentaries in the video at the end of this story.
Pilgrims visit the body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, the foundress of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, in Gower, Missouri. EWTN News
Of particular significance to the members of the contemplative order, known for their popular recordings of Gregorian chants and devotion to the Traditional Latin Mass, is that the traditional habit of their African American foundress also is surprisingly well-preserved.
“It’s in better condition than most of our habits,” Mother Cecilia told EWTN’s Catherine Hadro.
“This is not possible. Four years in a wet coffin, broken in with all the dirt, all the bacteria, all the mildew, all the mold — completely intact, every thread.”
For the sisters, the symbolism is profound. A St. Louis native, Sister Wilhelmina spent 50 years in another religious order but left after it dispensed with the requirement of wearing its conventional habit and altered other long-established practices. She founded the Benedictines of Mary in 1995 when she was 70 years old.
“It’s so appropriate, because that’s what Sister Wilhelmina fought for her whole religious life,” Mother Cecilia said of the habit.
“And now,” Sister Scholastica said, “that’s what’s standing out. That’s what she took on to show the world that she belonged to Christ, and that is what she still shows the world. Even in her state, even after death, four years after the death, she’s still showing the world that this is who she is. She’s a bride of Christ, and nothing else matters.”
‘I did a double take’
The Benedictine community exhumed Sister Wilhelmina, almost four years after her death, after deciding to move her remains to a new St. Joseph’s Shrine inside the abbey’s church, a common custom to honor the founders of religious orders, the sisters said.
Members of the community did the digging themselves, “a little bit each day,” Mother Cecilia said. The process began on April 26 and culminated with a half-dozen or so sisters using straps to haul the coffin out of the ground on April 28.
The abbess revealed that there was a feeling of anticipation among the sisters to see what was inside the coffin.
“There was a sense that maybe God would do something special because she was so special and so pure of heart,” Mother Cecilia said.
It was the abbess who looked through the cracked lid first, shining her flashlight into the dark coffin.
“So I looked and I kind of did a double take and I kind of stepped back. ‘Did I just see what I think I saw? Because I think I just saw a completely full foot with a black sock still on it,'” she recalled saying to herself.
Members of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, lead a procession with the body of their foundress, Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, at their abbey in Gower, Missouri, on May 29, 2023. Joe Bukuras/CNA
Sister Wilhelmina’s features were clearly recognizable; even her eyebrows and eyelashes were still there, the sisters discovered. Not only that, but her Hanes-brand socks, her brown scapular, Miraculous Medal, rosary beads, profession candle, and the ribbon around the candle — none of it had deteriorated.
The crown of flowers placed on her head for her burial had survived, too, dried in place but still visible. Yet the coffin’s fabric lining, the sisters noted, had disintegrated. So had a strap of new linen the sisters said they used to keep Sister Wilhelmina’s mouth closed.
“So I think everything that was left to us was a sign of her life,” Sister Scholastica reflected, “whereas everything pertaining to her death was gone.”
Another revelation from the interview: Contrary to what one would expect in the case of a four-year-old corpse, Sister Wilhelmina’s body is “really flexible,” according to Sister Scholastica.
“I mean, you can take her leg and lift it,” Mother Cecilia observed.
EWTN News In Depth also spoke with Shannen Dee Williams, an author and scholar who is an expert on the history of Black Catholicism. Sister Wilhelmina’s story, she said, is an important reminder of “the the great diversity and beauty of the Black Catholic experience across the spectrum.”
“It’s a really important story that reminds us of what is the great diversity of what is the Black Catholic experience.” – @BlkNunHistorian explains the significance of Sister Wilhelmina choosing a traditional habit for her community. pic.twitter.com/nJmyQ6UYjA
— EWTN News In Depth (@EWTNNewsInDepth) June 3, 2023
‘A unifying moment’
There has been no formal declaration by Church authorities that Sister Wilhelmina’s body is incorrupt, nor has an independent analysis been conducted of her remains, the condition of which has puzzled even some experienced morticians. Neither is there any official process yet underway to put the African American nun on a possible path to sainthood.
Pilgrims visit the body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, foundress of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, in Gower, Missouri. EWTN News
In the interview, Mother Cecilia called what’s happening at the abbey “a unifying moment for everybody” in a time of discord.
“There’s so much division, and it’s crazy,” she said. “We’re children of God the Father, every single one of us. And so you see, Sister Wilhelmina is bringing everyone together . . . I mean, this is God’s love pouring forth through people of every race, color,” she said.
“They come and they’re blown away, and it makes them think,” the abbess said. “It makes them think about God, about, ‘OK, why are we here? Is there more than just my phone, and my job, and my next vacation?’”
As for what comes next, no one can say. “We love God so much, his sense of humor, the irony, this humble little black nun hidden away in a monastery is a catalyst for this. It’s like a spark to send fire to the world,” Mother Cecilia said.
“It’s just remarkable,” she said. “But this is the kind of thing that God does when we need a wake-up call.”
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