Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki and Bishop Georg Bätzing. / Episkopat.pl/Bistum Limburg.
Warsaw, Poland, Feb 22, 2022 / 02:00 am (CNA).
The president of Poland’s Catholic bishops’ conference expressed “fraternal concern” about the direction of the “Synodal Way” on Tuesday in a strongly worded letter to his German counterpart.
In the almost 3,000-word letter published on Feb. 22 on the Polish bishops’ website, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki questioned whether the initiative bringing together Germany’s bishops and laypeople was rooted in the Gospel.
“The Catholic Church in Germany is important on the map of Europe and I am aware that it will either radiate its faith or its unbelief to the entire continent,” he wrote to Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops’ conference.
“That is why I look at the actions of the German ‘Synodal Way’ so far with concern. Observing its fruits, one can get the impression that the basis for reflection is not always the Gospel.”
Gądecki’s intervention is likely to intensify the debate about the Synodal Way, a multi-year process addressing the way power is exercised in the Church, sexual morality, the priesthood, and the role of women in the wake of a devastating clerical abuse crisis in Germany.
At a meeting earlier this month, participants voted in favor of draft texts calling for married priests in the Latin Church, the ordination of women priests, same-sex blessings, and changes to Catholic teaching on homosexuality.
In his letter, Gądecki addressed the votes and appealed to Bätzing to resist pressure to seek to bring Church teaching in line with public opinion.
“Faithful to the teachings of the Church, we should not yield to the pressures of the world or to the patterns of the dominant culture, since this can lead to moral and spiritual corruption,” he wrote.
“Let us avoid repeating worn-out slogans and standard demands such as: the abolition of celibacy, priesthood for women, Communion for the divorced, or blessing of same-sex unions.”
More to follow
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Cardinal Pietro Parolin attends an ordination at the Basilica of Sant’Eugenio in Rome, Sept. 5, 2020. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.
Vatican City, Jan 18, 2022 / 07:05 am (CNA).
Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra have tested positive for COVID-19, the Holy See press office confirmed on Tuesday.
Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, has “very mild” symptoms, while his Venezuelan substitute, Peña Parra, is asymptomatic, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told journalists on Jan. 18.
Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra meets with Pope Francis in Vatican City on August 17, 2018. . Vatican Media
Both members of the Roman Curia were fully vaccinated and had received booster shots.
Earlier this week, Parolin, who travels frequently for his diplomatic role, canceled a trip to Erba in northern Italy scheduled for Feb 6. The cardinal turned 67 on Jan. 17.
Parolin issued further coronavirus restrictions within Vatican City last month, requiring people to provide either proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or evidence of recovery from it to enter Vatican offices.
Michael Stucchi poses in front of the restored statue of Jesus with children at St. Mel’s Church in Woodland Hills, California. / Photo credit: Tom Hoffarth
Woodland Hills, California, Nov 5, 2022 / 08:00 am (CNA).
In the darkness of an early Saturday morning last March 19, Father Steve Davoren and his golden lab, Blue, came out the back exit of the rectory at St. Mel’s Church in Woodland Hills, California, for a pre-dawn run.
But before he could start, the priest’s heart sank when he saw what the floodlights pointing at the church’s iconic statue cluster of Jesus and three children revealed.
Grainy security footage only captured the arm of a person repeatedly swinging an unidentified weapon at the statues. Pieces fell from what has been a longtime centerpiece of the parish, in a highly visible spot off of busy Ventura Boulevard.
Chunks of the marbled concrete that came off the twisted, exposed rebar were everywhere: in the raised flower bed flanked by white rose bushes, in the parking lot, on the sidewalk next to the parish office.
Davoren immediately called the church’s business manager, Lisa Feliciano, who threw on a hoodie and came right over.
“It was horrific,” Feliciano said. “But now we were putting pieces in a box, crying. I couldn’t believe anyone could have this much hate to do this.”
Feliciano filed a police report along with the surveillance video, which she described as “two minutes of torture.”
“I see it and it still makes me cry,” she said.
Details of the damaged statues of Jesus at St. Mel’s Church in Woodland Hills, California. Photo credit: Michael Stucchi
It fell to Davoren to explain the attack to parishioners the next day at Sunday Masses, preaching understanding and forgiveness in the place of anger and frustration.
“To me, the irony of this was the person who did this had to be a broken person himself,” said Davoren, pastor at St. Mel’s since 2018. “Through Scripture we know we need to pray for people who feel they have to destroy.”
Michael Stucchi heard Davoren’s message loud and clear that weekend. A systems software engineer by trade, Stucchi has found satisfaction working for the parish to restore four in-church statues in the past as well as Nativity scene statues.
He has been their humble go-to, fix-it man. But this was something bigger.
“When I spoke to Father Steve about it a few days after it happened, I admit, I was angry, mad, indignant because the statues were special to me and my family,” said Stucchi, whose son works in the parish office. “But then I heard his sadness and concern for the mental state of the person who damaged the statues. That’s so much like him. This really altered my paradigm from reactive to proactive — to ask if I could look into ways of repairing them.
“Father Steve’s compassion is what Jesus would want us to have. All the people who work here are in the same mindset of love and forgiveness. We have no idea what terrible things are in that person’s life.”
Stucchi and Feliciano started the reconstruction by collecting and studying photographs of the statues to examine all their features. The depiction of Jesus is about 6 feet tall and weighs about 1,000 pounds; each child on its own concrete base weighs about 300 pounds.
The collection dates to the 1950s, when the parish was first built. It had once been part of a fountain display in front of the school office and later relocated near the church’s west doors in the 1990s when the new parish center was built.
Feliciano had contacted the Los Angeles Archdiocese about filing an insurance claim and was told it might cost as much as $30,000 to repair.
Stucchi said he could take care of it, with no charge to the parish.
That didn’t surprise Feliciano, who calls Stucchi “a true angel.”
“Look at the difference between someone filled with hate and destruction … and then someone like Michael who spends his time showing pure love and joy putting it back together,” Feliciano said. “Both are our neighbors, they live among us. How can there be such a vast difference in someone’s heart and soul?”
Michael Stucchi has pieced together the statues at St. Mel’s Church in Woodland Hills, California, to where they may even be in better condition when finished. Photo credit: Michael Stucchi
Stucchi experimented with different combinations of compounds — crushed marble, white Portland cement, and waterproof exterior grout. Most of the work had to be done on site, with some pieces taken to his home garage.
“I was super cautious about not making anything worse,” said Stucchi, noting the materials often dried too quickly in the summer heat, causing more delays. “The saddest part to me was the damage to Jesus. We know enough about the pain and suffering Jesus went through in his life, but to see an image of him obliterated, that’s too much.”
Slowly and meticulously, Stucchi has pieced together the statues to where they may even be in better condition now because of the ways weather and age already caused cracks and decay before the vandalism.
Seven months later, Stucchi has a few finishing touches — and plenty of gratitude — still left.
“As a priest’s sacrifice and commitment are beyond my comprehension or capabilities, having seen their dedication and that of the other volunteers and staff, I felt it’s the least I can do,” Stucchi said. “Notwithstanding, the Catholic Church was always there for me when I was a child and young adult.”
From a business perspective, Feliciano said the experience has taught her about the need for better security. The statues also were previously vandalized in 2021 when someone painted the faces a green color, but they were easy enough to repaint white.
“As a parishioner, the kindness of Michael reminds me that there is goodness in the world,” said Feliciano, who noted the 100-degree days Stucchi spent with the statue last summer. “I am reminded to pray for the person who was filled with enough hate to do the damage and thank God for blessing us with Michael.”
Father Davoren believes that “to some degree, we’re all broken and damaged, but our faith in the love of God allows people like Michael the tenderness to painstakingly put those pieces of the statue back together.
“It’s about giving people the right amount of grace to rebound in their lives.”
Denver Newsroom, Aug 10, 2021 / 17:05 pm (CNA).
Vicente del Real, a Catholic from Chicago, was recently helping to facilitate a young adult gathering at a parish in his area. The pastor walked in and said to … […]
2 Comments
As a needed modification to my comment there are homosexuals, perhaps better described as those with same sex attraction who fight the good fight. Dag Hammarskjöld former UN secretary general was one such man who also had extremely high values. An example of modesty, and simply said good.
At least Archbishop Gądecki is doing something [might we envision a subtle appeal to our Roman Pontiff?]. Although, it appears the German SynodalWay is a not too well disguised tableau for the Great World Synod.
As Papal Posse rough riders mused recently with all the outrageous antiChrist SynodalWay proposals that make Gądecki [as well as Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki might well ask the Posse] aghast, if the Great Synod achieves just one, such as normalizing adult homosexual relations it [that is the Great Synod drivers Cardinals Hollerich, Grech, presumably behind the curtain His Holiness Francis] they’ve won their initial gambit toward progressivism.
As a needed modification to my comment there are homosexuals, perhaps better described as those with same sex attraction who fight the good fight. Dag Hammarskjöld former UN secretary general was one such man who also had extremely high values. An example of modesty, and simply said good.
At least Archbishop Gądecki is doing something [might we envision a subtle appeal to our Roman Pontiff?]. Although, it appears the German SynodalWay is a not too well disguised tableau for the Great World Synod.
As Papal Posse rough riders mused recently with all the outrageous antiChrist SynodalWay proposals that make Gądecki [as well as Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki might well ask the Posse] aghast, if the Great Synod achieves just one, such as normalizing adult homosexual relations it [that is the Great Synod drivers Cardinals Hollerich, Grech, presumably behind the curtain His Holiness Francis] they’ve won their initial gambit toward progressivism.