As dioceses face coronavirus money woes, Knights of Columbus offer line of credit

Lexington, Ky., Jan 25, 2020 / 11:27 am (CNA).- One person is dead and others are injured after an oncoming car struck a charter bus carrying Covington Catholic students and chaperones back from the national March for Life in Washington, D.C., local sources have reported.

According to witnesses speaking to WLWT in Kentucky, the car had been traveling in the southbound lane of AA Highway in the city of California, Kentucky, when it crossed the median into the northbound lane and hit the bus head-on.

“I saw a car come across the median and head toward me,” Ricky Lynn, a witness driving north on the highway, told WLWT. “I was able to get out of the way.”

The car’s driver, whose name has not been released, was pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses told WLWT that a priest on the bus gave the driver of the car a final blessing.

According to officials, four other people were sent to the hospital with minor injuries, WCPO in Cincinnati reported.

The passenger side of the bus was significantly damaged in the crash, and passengers in the bus escaped through emergency windows, WLWT reported. The bus was one in a caravan of four, carrying a total of about 200 people who had attended the March for Life on Friday.

In a statement given to local media, the Diocese of Covington said: “This morning, a bus carrying students and chaperones home from the March for Life in Washington, DC was involved in an accident. EMT personnel and the Campbell County police have been at the scene and are handling the matter. Please join us in praying for everyone involved in this accident.”

Covington Catholic students were the center of a barrage of media scrutiny following the March for Life last year, when a video published online showed Covington Catholic students as part of a confluence of demonstrators near the Washington Memorial, including some from a Washington-based religious group called the Black Israelites, and some from the Indigenous Peoples’ March.

Initially, a viral video depicted a crowd of teenage boys chanting, dancing, and doing the “tomahawk chop” cheer, while a Native American man played a drum in chanted in close proximity to Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann, who stood silently. The drummer was soon identified as Nathan Phillips, an elder of the Omaha Tribe and Native American rights activist.

The students became the subject of widespread condemnation from media figures and some Catholic leaders, who accused them of disrespect, racism, and antagonism.

Later video and reports that emerged showed a more complex picture, depicting the protestors approaching the students rather than the students surrounding them. The students said that they were chanting school songs in response to taunts from the Black Israelites when Phillips approached.

In January of this year, CNN settled a lawsuit with Sandmann, who sued the network for accusing him of racism in its coverage of the incident.

According to the Washington Examiner and photos posted on Instagram by Catholic Connect, Sandmann attended the March for Life again this year, though it is unclear if he was on the bus that was struck in the accident or in the caravan of busses.

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Displaced Palestinians who fled their houses amid Israeli strikes wait at a food distribution point as they shelter in tents set up in a United Nations-run center following Israel’s call for more than 1 million civilians in northern Gaza to move south, in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on Oct. 26, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. / Credit: MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Oct 26, 2023 / 14:10 pm (CNA).

European Union leaders are set to call for the establishment of “humanitarian corridors and pauses” to transport aid to civilians into the Gaza Strip as the war between Israel and Hamas enters its third week. 

The European Council “expresses its gravest concern for the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and calls for continued, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access and aid to reach those in need,” reads the text of a resolution from the EU, set to be presented at a leadership summit in Brussels on Thursday, as reported by Reuters and multiple other media outlets.

The council statement said it was calling for aid access “through all necessary measures including humanitarian corridors and pauses.” 

“The European Union will work closely with partners in the region to protect civilians, provide assistance, and facilitate access to food, water, medical care, fuel, and shelter, ensuring that such assistance is not abused by terrorist organizations,” the statement said.

Israeli strikes have killed at least 6,500 people in Gaza and wounded more than 17,400, the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry reported on Thursday; meanwhile, Israeli authorities say more than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel since Hamas’ initial Oct. 7 attack on Israel. 

Some humanitarian aid has been allowed into Gaza since the start of the war, but the widespread closure of checkpoints into the area has brought about a health crisis for civilians in the region, particularly those who have serious medical conditions, an aid group told CNA recently. 

Aid groups such as Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Aid to the Church in Need, Caritas International, and World Central Kitchen are working to provide families with assistance in the Holy Land and Palestine. CRS has spoken out in favor of “immediate humanitarian access” to the Gaza Strip. 

Religious leaders in Jerusalem have likewise called for aid to be allowed into the stricken region, with Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant leaders pleading with Israeli leaders to “allow humanitarian supplies to enter Gaza so that the thousands of innocent civilians may receive medical treatment and basic supplies.”

Pope Francis first addressed the war in Israel and Palestine on Oct. 8, declaring that “terrorism and war do not bring any solution but only death and suffering for many innocent people.” 

The pontiff has called for a worldwide day of prayer and fasting on Friday, Oct. 27. 

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Pope Francis prays at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal, May 12, 2017. / Vatican Media.

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