US Catholic bishops demand peace replace violence after protesters disrupt Capitol

Denver Newsroom, May 13, 2020 / 05:42 pm (CNA).- The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis has assembled a team of 30 priests ready to administer last rites— confession, communion, and anointing of the sick— to COVID-19 patients.

All the priest-volunteers on the “Anointing Corps,” which launched early this month, are under 50, and most are parochial vicars. The team has anointed at least a dozen patients so far, the archdiocese said May 12.

Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who is spearheading the initiative, told CNA that priests from the Anointing Corps have been called to several nursing homes already.

“The nursing homes, I think, have just been happy that we’re handling it professionally,” Cozzens said.

On some occasions, he said, the anointing priest has been able to “live-stream” the anointing of the sick person to their family outside the nursing home, since they are not able to be there in person.

The Archdiocese of Chicago in early April assembled a team of 24 priest volunteers— all under age 60, and without pre-existing medical conditions— to administer anointing of the sick to Catholics with COVID-19 during the coronavirus pandemic.

Cozzens said he looked to Chicago for guidance on how to assemble their own team.

The key for the St. Paul and Minneapolis “Anointing Corps”, he said, has been their training and professionalism. In addition to the priests, their archdiocesan team has triage nurses working on it, he said— people who know how to communicate effectively with hospital staff.

“We haven’t been able to get into every nursing home— nor every hospital— because of the protocols, but we’ve been making a lot of progress,” Cozzens said.

The priests on the team have received the same personal protective equipment training as the doctors and nurses, he said.

“The key for us has been convincing the hospitals and nursing homes that we have a really good protocol, and that our priests are trained and know what they’re doing.”

Several of the hospitals and nursing homes where priests have performed anointing, Cozzens said, have been especially welcoming of and grateful for the priests’ ministry.

Most care centers have been helpful in providing the PPE that the priests need in order safely to  enter the room and physically touch the patient when anointing them.

“The ones that are really helpful understand the importance of care at the time of death, and have been understanding that for us as Catholics, actual sacramental contact at the time of death is really important. And they’ve been understanding of that reality, and have provided us what we need to be able to do that.”

Cozzens encouraged other local Churches wanting to create their own anointing teams to consult with medical experts and make sure the priests are well trained in what they are being asked to do.

“Having a professional and consistent approach has been the key to hospitals letting us in,” he said.

Father Joseph Gifford, associate pastor of Church of All Saints in Lakeville typically serves as a nursing home chaplain.

His ministry as a chaplain normally would consist of celebrating Mass for the Catholic residents at four or five area nursing homes once or twice a month. In addition, Father Gifford would normally often be called to hear confessions and administer the anointing of the sick to residents.

Father Gifford said he is glad that it is he— as All Saints’ parochial vicar— who is tasked with anointing COVID-positive patients, and not his pastor.

“That way, my pastor can see the non-COVID-19 patients who are still in danger of death for all the other reasons,” he said.

“In my short experience as a priest, I can always look forward to going and saying Mass at the nursing home, and it’s going to be the same people,” adding that he looks forward to “getting to know them better, and share life and share God with them.”

Father Gifford was a trained singer before he entered the seminary, and told CNA he has used his gift of singing to entertain residents at the nursing homes he serves at by singing to them outside their windows.

In addition, since no one currently can visit the area nursing homes in person, All Saints parish has set up a “calling tree” of staff members and volunteers in order to regularly check on parishioners over 65.

He says he most misses the in-person interaction with the residents, and looks forward to the opportunity once more to talk with the residents in person.

The archdiocese has also set up a site where Catholics can commit to daily prayer for health care workers.

The Archdiocese of Boston also has assembled anointing teams of priests. In that local Church, the priests are housed together in strategic locations close to hospitals.

Throughout the country, chaplains at hospitals and nursing homes have had to adapt their ministry to protect the elderly and those at greatest risk of contracting COVID-19.

Father Hugh Vincent Dyer, a Dominican priest in New York, took up residence in the nursing home where he has served as chaplain since December 2019. There are about 360 elderly residents at the nursing home, not all of them Catholic, the Federalist reports.

To continue to minister while keeping his distance, Father Dyer has been broadcasting Mass, the rosary, and meditations from the facility’s chapel via closed-circuit television.

He also has been using the CCTV system to screen films, some of which he has found “can trigger forgotten memories and fascinating stories.”

In addition, he has been broadcasting a weekly “Cultural Miscellany,” during which he reads poetry— some of which are favorites that the residents have specifically requested— and offers reflections on them.

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Bishop Daniel Fernández Torres / Diocese of Arecibo

Arecibo, Puerto Rico, Mar 9, 2022 / 11:39 am (CNA).
Bishop Daniel Fernández Torres, who was relieved Wednesday of his office as Bishop of Arecibo, said that he feels “blessed to suffer persecu… […]

Washington D.C., Sep 27, 2019 / 05:00 pm (CNA).- Catholic leaders and organizations have condemned an announcement by the Trump administration that it intends to cap the number of refugees admitted to the United States at 18,000 for the 2020 financial year. 

The 18,000 figure will not include people who are claiming asylum. A person seeking asylum does so after arriving at a port of entry. A refugee is processed before arriving in the United States. 

The new proposed figure marks a 40% drop from the previous year’s ceiling of 30,000.

In a phone call with journalists, a senior administration official explained that the new refugee policy would prioritize refugees by the basis for their application over region of origin. The administration said that the large backlog in asylum cases is part of the reasoning behind the reduced number of refugees. There are nearly 400,000 asylum cases currently being processed by the U.S. government.

“First, we’re prioritizing those who have been persecuted for their religious beliefs,” said the official, explaining that 5,000 places would be reserved for this category.

“The U.S. is committed to advancing religious freedom internationally, including the protection of religious groups across the globe.”  

An additional 4,000 spaces will be reserved for Iraqis who assisted the United States, and an additional 1,500 places will be reserved for Honduran, Guatemalan, and El Salvadoran nationals who do not otherwise qualify for asylum.

The remaining 7,500 spots will go to eligible claimants not otherwise covered by these categories. 

A statement released by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the policy shift.

“We are currently in the midst of the world’s greatest forced displacement crisis on record, and for our nation, which leads by example, to lower the number of refugee admissions for those who are in need is unacceptable,” said Bishop Joe S. Vasquez of the Diocese of Austin, who chairs the USCCB Committee on Migration.

“Refugees are among the most vulnerable people, fleeing war, religious persecution, and extreme targeted violence. Turning a blind eye to those in need with such callous disregard for human life would go against the values of our nation and fail to meet the standards that make our society great,” added Vasquez. 

Vasquez also voiced concerns about a proposed executive order that would allow cities and states to turn away refugees. 

“We fear the collateral negative consequences, especially for refugees and their families, of creating a confusing patchwork across America of some jurisdictions where refugees are welcomed and others where they are not.” 

Vasquez urged President Trump and Congress to “work together to restore U.S. refugee resettlement to at normal, historical levels.”

Catholic Charities USA said Sept. 27 that the organization “strongly opposes yesterday’s action by the Administration to historically reduce the number of refugees welcomed into the United States, a record low since the program began in 1980.”

“We call upon the Administration to consider the refugee resettlement program’s mission to provide protection to those in need for humanitarian reasons. The program should return to consistent refugee numbers rather than focus primarily on its use for partisan-based purposes,” Catholic Charities said. 

Catholic Relief Services, which exercises humanitarian ministry around the world, was similarly opposed to the proposed cap. 

“The world depends on the United States taking in its share of the 26 million vulnerable refugees,” said CRS executive vice president for Mission and Mobilization Bill O’Keefe in a statement.

“How can we ask a country like Uganda, a developing country smaller than Wyoming, to take in a million South Sudanese refugees unless we step up and take in at least 95,000 of the most vulnerable? 

“Fundamentally, we are talking about other human beings – children and families – seeking safety and a decent life. Admitting refugees reflects the values on which this nation was built, the teaching of Christianity and other faiths, and basic human decency,” he added. 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services acting Director Ken Cuccinelli told reporters Friday that persecuted Christians seeking refugee status in the U.S. will be turned back if they seek to bypass the refugee cap by seeking asylum at the border.

“I take issue with how you ask your alleged question,” Cuccinelli said, before clarifying that the administration will “turn them back” if persecuted Christians attempted to walk across a national border in order to claim asylum in the counry.

The United States’ refugee ceiling remained relatively stable from the fiscal years 2000-2016, at around 70,000 annually. In his last year in office, President Barack Obama raised the ceiling to 110,000 for the fiscal year 2017. 

President Trump moved to limit the number of refugees who were admitted to the United States as one of his first acts in office. The United States averaged about 67,000 new refugee admissions each year until Trump took office, and that number has since been repeatedly lowered.

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