Dozens of headstones overturned at Ukrainian Catholic cemetery near Baltimore

Washington D.C., Mar 19, 2018 / 05:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) v. Becerra, to decide if a California law mandating that pro-life pregnancy centers … […]

Norfolk, Virginia, Jul 4, 2017 / 03:41 am (CNA).- An immigrant parish, burnt down, with only the crucifix remaining. A parish rebuilt, transformed and a key part in giving back to the community. In a sense, one parish’s story of struggle, pressure and rebirth is metaphor for the American Catholic experience.

St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Norfolk, Virginia, is the only black Catholic church in the United States that is also a basilica. Its dramatic history captures both the broader American Catholic history of persecution, growth and acceptance, but also a witness to the unique challenges faced by black Catholics over the centuries.

Founded originally as St. Patrick’s Parish in 1791, it is the oldest Catholic parish in the Diocese of Richmond, predating the foundation of the diocese by nearly 30 years.

“Catholicism was not legal to practice” in Virginia when the colony was founded, said Fr. Jim Curran, rector of the basilica. In much of Colonial America, before the Revolution and the signing of the Bill of Rights, churches that were not approved by the government were prohibited from operating, he told CNA.

The land originally bought in 1794 for the parish is the same ground on which the basilica today stands. From the beginning, according to the parish’s history, Catholics from all backgrounds worshiped together: Irish and German immigrants, free black persons and slaves.

However, by the 1850s, the parish’s immigrant background and mixed-race parish drew the ire of a prominent anti-Catholic movement: the Know-Nothings.

Largely concentrated in northeastern states where the immigrant influx was greatest, the movement rose and fell quickly. Concerned with maintaining the Protestant “purity of the nation,” it worked to prevent immigrants – many of whom were Catholic – from gaining the right to vote, becoming citizens, or taking elected office.

“I consider the Know-Nothings to be a sort of gatekeeper organization, by which I mean that they were both anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic at the same time,” said Fr. David Endres, an assistant professor of Church History and Historical Theology at the Athenaeum of Ohio.

He told CNA that the Know-Nothing Party was able to bring together both pro- and anti-slavery voters in the mid-1800s, united in the common “dislike of foreign-born and Catholics.”

While most anti-Catholic activities took the form of defamatory speeches and public discrimination, the prejudice sometimes turned to violence and mob action, Fr. Endres explained.

The anti-Catholic discrimination and threats found their way to St. Patrick’s doorstep, where the Know-Nothings were unhappy that the pastor was allowing racial integrated Masses, said Fr. Curran.

The pastor at that time, Fr. Matthew O’Keefe, received so many threats directed against the Church and himself that police protection was required to stop the intimidation of the Catholics worshiping at the church, according to the locals.  

Despite the threats, however, Fr. O’Keefe did not segregate the Masses. In 1856, the original church building burned down, leaving only three walls standing. Only a wooden crucifix was left unscathed.

More than 150 years later, it is still unclear exactly who or what caused the fire, but since the days following the blaze, parishioners have had their suspicions.

“We don’t know for sure if they were the ones who burned it, but it’s widely believed, it’s a commonly held notion that it’s the Know-Nothings who burnt the Church,” Fr. Curran said.   

Fr. O’Keefe and the parishioners worked hard to rebuild the church, seeking donations from Catholics along the East Coast. A new church building was constructed less than three years after the fire and is still standing today.

After the church was rebuilt, the parish renamed itself in 1858 in honor of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, which was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1854. It claims to be the first church in the world named for Mary of the Immaculate Conception following the declaration.

In 1889, the Josephites built Saint Joseph’s Black Catholic parish to serve the needs of the black Catholic community, and the two parishes operated separately within several blocks of one another. However, in 1961, St. Joseph’s was demolished to make way for new construction, and the two parishes were joined, reintegrating – at least in theory – St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception.

But the merger was not popular with many of the white parishioners and conflicted with the segregation policies of local government institutions and public life, Fr. Curran said. “St Mary’s became a de facto black parish.”

During this demographic shift, many parishioners of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception had to draw deeply upon their faith. Black Catholics had to be stalwart, facing prejudice from both some white parishioners, who did not view them as fully Catholic, and some black Protestants, who did not support their religious beliefs.

“They were devoted, and still are,” the rector said. “You have to be very devoted to be a Black Catholic.”

This devotion and witness of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception was formally celebrated when, in 1991, Saint Pope John Paul II elevated the 200-year-old church to a minor basilica.

“Your black cultural heritage enriches the Church and makes her witness of universality more complete. In a real way the Church needs you, just as you need the Church, for you are a part of the Church and the Church is part of you,” Pope Saint John Paul II proclaimed at the elevation.

Today, St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception plays a vital role not only as the only Catholic basilica in Virginia, but also as an important anchor of the neighborhood. The basilica operates a “robust” set of outreach ministries to local families, including rent assistance and food aid, serving thousands of people.

“The Church standing proudly and beautiful in the midst of the poor is where we need to be,” Fr. Curran said.

He also pointed to the basilica’s history as an example of one way communities can aid churches affected by violence, such as the – such as the half dozen black churches across the South that have burned since late June.

“The reason why we were able to raise so much money so quickly was because there were so many people that were appalled at the burning of St. Patrick’s,” the rector said.

Tragic events like the burning of a church can actually help bring people together in a common cause, he continued.

“It unites people of faith. If people of faith who are appalled by this stand up and assist and let our voices be heard, we can do something wonderful.”

This article was originally published on CNA July 4, 2015.

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Providence, R.I., Feb 13, 2020 / 03:47 pm (CNA).- Rhode Island’s Catholic bishop has responded to a controversy in which a series of remarks from a priest in his diocese, which began with the Eucharist and pro-choice politicians and seemed eventually to diminish the gravity of child sexual abuse.

“In the context of the present public discussion, it is important to affirm that both the sexual abuse of minors and abortion are horrific, immoral actions that have very serious, harmful consequences,” Bishop Thomas Tobin said in a Feb. 13 statement.

“It is never acceptable to underestimate the harm caused by sexual abuse of minors,” Tobin added.

The discussion to which Tobin referred began when a Rhode Island priest, Fr. Richard Bucci, announced Jan. 26 that state lawmakers who voted in favor of a bill to expand abortion access in the state would not be permitted to receive the Eucharist at his parish.

The 66 legislators who voted in favor of Rhode Island’s Reproductive Privacy Act of 2019  should not approach Holy Communion, and would not be permitted to act as witnesses to marriage, baptismal or confirmation sponsors, or lectors at liturgies in his parish, Bucci said in a note he mailed to the lawmakers, and distributed at his parish, West Warwick’s Sacred Heart Church.

Bucci’s remarks suggested that proponents of abortion are prohibited from the Eucharist because of abortion’s unique gravity, and he has said that pro-choice legislators have incurred the penalty of excommunication.

The priest told local radio host Gene Valenti Feb. 7 that Catholic legislators who support same-sex marriage can be admitted to the Eucharist, while those who support abortion can not.

“There is not an innocent life at risk there. The Church has excommunicated people procuring, providing, guiding to abortion because there is an innocent life at stake, and so that is the reason that the excommunication has been in law since the beginning of Catholicism.”

The Church does say that pro-abortion politicians can be prohibited from the Eucharist, though Bucci’s argument is not consistent with canonical norms.

Canon law establishes that only Catholics who directly procure or perform abortions are subject to the canonical penalty of excommunication— doctors, and those who freely choose to undergo or directly facilitate particular abortions.

The Church says that pro-abortion politicians may be prohibited by their bishops or pastors from the Eucharist not because they are excommunicated, but because their political advocacy can constitute “obstinate perseverance in manifest grave sin.”

Catholics who advocate for other policies that can not be reconciled to Christian doctrine can also be forbidden from receiving the Eucharist, as can Catholics who publicly perdure in other consistent circumstances of grave sin, including ongoing and manifest sexual relationships, of any kind, outside of marriage. That prohibition, which would last until a person repented and amended his life,  does not constitute excommunication.

Bucci’s remarks sparked heated controversy when, in an effort to explain his position, he made a comparison between abortion and pedophilia.

“We are not talking about any other moral issue, where some may make it a comparison between pedophilia and abortion. Pedophilia doesn’t kill anyone and this does,” Bucci told local reporters Feb 9, apparently attempting to emphasize the gravity of abortion, and addressing the clerical sexual abuse crisis.

According to some studies, people who experience sexual abuse as a child are three times more likely to commit suicide than national average. People who experience multiple acts of abuse are even more likely to take their own lives.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 2005 called acts of child sexual abuse “a horrendous sin in the eyes of God.” The Church says that a person who has committed any act of sexual abuse should not recieve the Eucharist without first sacramentally confessing the sin.

Tobin’s Feb. 13 statement did not address Bucci’s specific arguments. It did emphasize that “abortion destroys innocent unborn life; it exploits vulnerable women; it diminishes family life; and it corrodes the moral fabric of society. There are no circumstances, personal or political, that justify the termination of unborn children.”

“The Catholic Church has been very clear and consistent in condemning the evil of abortion, and we affirm that those who promote, support and approve abortion, including civic leaders, are responsible for having committed a grave evil in the sight of Almighty God,” the statement added.

At the same time, Tobin also emphasized that “Sexual abuse, wherever and whenever it occurs, causes long-lasting, sometimes permanent and devastating harm to the victims/survivors, their families and the entire community.”

“Allegations of sexual abuse must always be taken most seriously and every effort should be made to protect children and youth, to eliminate abuse, to prosecute abusers, and to offer assistance to those who have been harmed,” Tobin added.

Tobin did not indicate how the Diocese of Providence will respond directly to Bucci, and the diocese declined to respond to questions from CNA.

“In the current public discussion, I urge all parties to refrain from unhelpful, inflammatory rhetoric, and to reflect personally and prayerfully on the consequences of these grave matters. May we renew our efforts to protect life and promote the common good, especially for children and youth, and may God bless our commitment with wisdom, prudence, humility and charity,” the bishop said.

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