Vatican instructs Savannah diocese to end Traditional Latin Masses in May 2023, bishop says

Nashville, Tenn., Dec 12, 2018 / 04:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As Tennessee has seen an increase in pro-life legislation in recent years, the only abortion clinic in Nashville temporarily ceased its abortion services last week.

According to the Associated Press, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi, Tereva Parham, confirmed Dec. 10 that abortion provision had been suspended the week prior.

The time-frame of the suspension has not been provided.

Parham said the clinic is “undergoing a period of quality improvement” and added that part of the reason for the suspension is a lack of abortions providers.

The Planned Parenthood clinic is still offering other services, but has been referring patients who request abortion to clinics in Knoxville and Memphis, both of which are about 200 miles away.

Nashville previously had two abortion providers, but The Women’s Center closed in August when its building was sold. The organization said it would be looking for a new location, but it has not yet reopened.

Tennessee has enacted a number of abortion regulations in recent years.

In 2014, voters approved an amendment which categorically excludes abortion rights from the state’s constitution.

“Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion. The people retain the right through their elected state representatives or state senators to enact, amend, or repeal statutes regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother,” the amendment reads.

Legislators passed a 48-hour waiting period and in-person informed consent counseling for women seeking to procure abortion in 2015, which are currently being challenged in federal court.

In 2017, the state banned abortion of viable unborn children after 20 weeks.

The state also requires hospital admitting privileges for abortion doctors, and parental consent for teen abortions.

And in May, Republican Gov. Bill Haslam signed a law calling for the erection of a privately funded monument to unborn children on the grounds of the state capitol.

Haslam also signed a law seeking federal approval to prohibit the state’s Medicaid program from payments for non-abortion services to any provider of more than 50 abortions in a year.

About 9,700 abortions were procured in Tennessee in 2016.

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CNA Staff, Feb 12, 2021 / 09:35 am (CNA).- The Knights of Columbus have sent more than $200,000 of oxygen and related supplies to the Amazon regions of Brazil and Peru, following pleas from bishop whose people face crowded hospitals amid a coronavirus … […]

Saginaw, Mich., Oct 29, 2018 / 06:00 pm (CNA).- Bishop Joseph Cistone of the Diocese of Saginaw, Michigan planned one final diocesan event before succumbing to lung cancer in October: forty hours of continuous Eucharistic adoration to pray for the suffering of the Church, against a backdrop of country-wide revelations of sexual abuse.

After Cistone’s death, members of the diocese are participating in the forty hours of adoration, and are praying not only for the Church, but also for the late bishop’s soul.

Bishop Cistone died Oct. 16 after announcing in February that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. He said at that time that he would undergo a treatment plan involving both chemotherapy and radiation. On Oct. 1 the diocese announced that the cancer had spread to other parts of Cistone’s body, and that he had begun an aggressive course of chemotherapy.

His funeral was held Oct. 23 at Saginaw’s Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption.

The forty hours of adoration began Oct. 28 with Mass at that same cathedral at 10 a.m, followed by a procession through the Cathedral to begin adoration. The adoration is scheduled to end after 7 p.m. vespers prayer on Tuesday Oct. 30.

Sister Esther Mary Nickel of the Religious Sisters of Mercy told CNA that the prayer intentions for the forty hours of adoration are for the diocese of Saginaw, the suffering of the Church, and for the repose of the Bishop Cistone’s soul.  

Sister Nickel said on the first night of adoration, men from the local chapter of the Knights of Columbus volunteered to stand guard at the door all night.

“I was so surprised that people came through the night,” Sister Nickel said.”I must say we’re having a wonderful turnout. I’m grateful.”

Sister Nickel said that Catholics in the Saginaw diocese had been experiencing various hardships lately, in addition to the bishop’s death. Police raided the bishop’s home in March, as well as the diocesan chancery and its cathedral rectory, as part of an ongoing investigation into sex abuse allegations against several diocesan priests. Two priests have been placed on leave from their duties after a recent wave of accusations of sexual abuse against priests in the diocese.

The practice of forty hours of adoration draws its roots back to Rome over 500 years ago, begun by St. Philip Neri. Sister Nickel said the forty hours devotion was “near and dear” to Cistone’s heart, and this event was the last one he approved for the liturgy office before his death. She said Bishop Cistone had a great devotion to St. John Neumann, a great proponent of the practice in the United States, who started the practice at his parish in Philadelphia in 1840.

Sister Nickel said Cistone brought this tradition back from Philadelphia to Saginaw with him, as well as his desire that his priests in particular would cultivate a devotion to the blessed sacrament.

Martha Arvizu, a lifelong Saginaw resident and a parishioner of the diocese since the ninth grade, told CNA it can sometimes be difficult for her to quiet her mind from the noise of daily life. She and her 91-year-old mother, who Arvizu said always wants to be there with her daughter despite being hard of hearing, attended the adoration service Sunday night.

“It’s wonderful to come and be in the silence and get in the presence of our Lord,” Arvizu said. “He’s very forgiving and He walks with us.”

Arvizu said despite the difficult circumstances present in the Saginaw diocese and elsewhere in the Church, she plans to continue to practice her faith.

“I think if you lose your faith, you’re nowhere,” she reflected. “If you have your faith, and you believe in your faith, nothing can deter you. [God’s] there to help us along, and what our destiny is, he’s the only one that knows…I think our faith will get us through anything.”

She said although there is at least one parish in the diocese that offers perpetual adoration, it was nice to be able to stay in adoration as long as they wanted under the protection of the Knights.

“We probably should do it more often, as long as we have preparation,” “This was very well planned, they let everyone know that they were going to do this. I think it’s a positive thing, and even those who have been going that don’t come all the time find it enriching…[Adoration’s] something we all need, especially at this time, with the loss of our bishop.”

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