News Briefs

Archbishop: NSW abortion legalization ‘a defeat for humanity’

September 26, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Sydney, Australia, Sep 26, 2019 / 11:18 am (CNA).- The archbishop of Sydney lamented a controversial new law decriminalizing abortion in New South Wales, and stressed that the Church will work to offer support for women facing difficult pregnancies.

“Today is a very dark day for New South Wales,” said Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney in a Sept. 26 statement. He called the new law “a defeat for humanity.”

“The Abortion Law Reform Act 2019 may be the worst law passed in New South Wales in modern times, because it represents such a dramatic abdication of responsibility to protect the most vulnerable members of our community,” he said.

“Since the abolition of capital punishment in New South Wales in 1955, this is the only deliberate killing ever legalised in our state.”

A law removing abortion from the Crimes Act in New South Wales passed by a vote of 26-14 in the state’s upper house on Wednesday.

The Abortion Law Reform Act 2019 allows abortion for any reason up to 22 weeks of pregnancy; after that, it allows for abortions if two obstetricians agree.

Previously, abortion was only legal in NSW if a doctor determined that a woman’s physical or mental health is in danger. “Mental health” had been interpreted by courts to include “economic and social stress.”

According to supporters of the bill, it clarifies what they believe were previously ambiguous terms in penal code with regard to abortion. But according to conservatives who oppose the bill, it opens up the possibility for abortion at any time for any reason as long as two doctors agree.

Fisher emphasized that although abortion is now legal in New South Wales, “our commitment to life continues.”

“Care for pregnant women, new mothers and their babies will still be available through Church agencies and pro-life organisations,” he said.

“The Catholic Church, other Christian churches, people of other faiths and women and men of goodwill will continue to work together to turn our culture around, so that every vulnerable woman and baby is supported and abortion becomes unthinkable.”

The legislation had drawn opposition from the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Church of Australia, and the NSW Presbyterian Church.

Debate on the bill in the state’s Legislative Council had been delayed over the summer, following concerns that it was rushed through without proper consideration. The bill had previously passed the Legislative Assembly Aug. 8 by a vote of 59-31.

Under the legislation, it will still be a criminal offense for individuals to perform abortions without the proper authorizations, carrying a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment for doing so. Doctors would also have to obtain “informed consent” from patients before performing abortions.

Originally titled The Reproductive Health Care Reform Bill 2019, the bill underwent several changes before reaching its final form.

Initially, it did not mandate any counseling or period of consideration for the woman, according to The Catholic Weekly, the Archdiocese of Sydney’s publication.

That was later changed to require medical practitioners to offer counseling to a woman seeking an abortion if they believe it would be beneficial, The Guardian reported.

Critics of the bill had also objected that it would require doctors with conscientious objections to refer women to other abortion providers. The final legislation instead requires them to direct women to the NSW Health website or hotline, which can then connect them with a doctor who will perform the abortion.

Another amendment prohibits coercing a woman into having an abortion, or preventing her from doing so. The crime is punishable by up to two years in jail, Australia’s ABC News reported.

In addition, it clarifies the obligation of doctors to care for a baby who survives an abortion attempt, and prohibits abortions based solely on the sex of the child, according to ABC News.

In his statement, Fisher thanked the members of Parliament who opposed the bill, and those “who worked tirelessly on amendments to make this bad law a little better.” He also thanked the members of the public who prayed and spoke out against the law.

He encouraged Catholics to pray and work for pro-life leaders, and to renew their commitment to helping pregnant women in need.

“We can still put an end to the scourge of abortion in this state by making it unnecessary, no matter what the law says,” the archbishop said.

 

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At US-Mexico border, bishops emphasize bonds of faith and family

September 26, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

El Paso, Texas, Sep 26, 2019 / 11:15 am (CNA).- At a Mass and press conference held at the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas on Wednesday, bishops from the border region emphasized the importance of providing care for migrant families, especially those who share a common faith and baptism with American Catholics.

“These are baptized Christians. From the faith perspective, that’s what we forget sometimes because we’re so focused on the charity part of it,” Bishop Brendan Cahill of the Diocese of Victoria, Texas told CNA Sept. 25.

“But these are baptized Catholics, so these are our brothers and sisters. So respecting national borders, respecting everything else, there’s still a bond there through sacramentality.”

 

“We know that they’re coming not to take advantage of this wonderful, generous country, but rather to have an opportunity to work and to raise their families in safety and dignity,” Bishop Oscar Cantu said Sept. 25 as bishops prayed at the US border.

Photos: @mckeownjonah pic.twitter.com/F5KYX9zONk

— Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) September 26, 2019

 

The delegation of bishops, led by Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, is visiting the border this week to meet migrants at aid centers and in the fields where many of them work. The visit was designed as a pastoral encounter with migrants and Catholic leaders of the Dioceses of Las Cruces, New Mexico, El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico. Five bishops were present at the Mass and press conference.

Fr. Robert Stark, Regional Coordinator of the Vatican’s Section on Migrant and Refugees, was also in attendance. Pope Francis has declared Sunday, Sept. 29 as World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

Cahill celebrated the Mass in Spanish on Wednesday evening at the Centro de los Trabajadores Agrícolas Fronterizos, located in South El Paso just a stone’s throw from the border fence. The 8,000 square foot adobe-brown facility has for over 25 years provided aid for the thousands of migrant farmers who cross from Mexico to work in the United States every day.

The bishop related the story of a family he knows: A husband and father drives each day from Mexico across the border to New Mexico to farm, leaving at 3 am and arriving back home around 7 pm. He sleeps, and then does it again the next day.

Most chili farm workers are paid around 79 cents for each large bucket of chilis or onions picked.

“Over these past few days we’ve heard dozens of stories, but to me there’s a similar theme to all of them…it’s really all about family. It’s about parents caring for their children, and I think for any of us that’s our number one concern.”

In Ciudad Juarez, Central American migrants are being treated “very well,” Cahill said, but the threat to the families, and particularly mothers, still has impacted him.

“As I listen to the migrant farm workers’ stories, I hear challenges to keep the family together, opportunities for families because it is work and provides, so I think that has to be admitted that that’s a good, but then to see what we can do even better.”

Though the situation on both sides of the border is “overwhelming,” Cahill emphasized Pope St. John Paul II’s exhortation to pray for the family— not just one’s own family, but for the holiness and wellbeing of all families.

“The experience of being on the border and listening to people’s stories— and these are regular people— is that the family is always the forefront,” he said.

“I want to pray for the family unit, that we protect mothers and fathers and children, and that they can be together. And that’s what I noticed here on the border, a lot of economic forces, a lot of things challenging keeping the family together.”

Seitz said at the press conference that it is unusual to have so many bishops gathered together around one particular theme outside of the regular bishops’ meeting. The special focus of the visit, he said, is on farm workers.

“They’re a quiet reality that have been passing through El Paso, staying in El Paso, moving out from El Paso for many decades here,” Seitz said.

Seitz said the visit was designed to allow those who had not visited the border area before a chance to get a feel for the area, and a border situation that is “changing every day.”

The Mass coincided with a vote taken in Congress Wednesday to block President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration at the southern border, which is designed to divert funds from other projects to build a wall on the border with Mexico. The president is expected to veto Congress’ action.

On Tuesday the bishops visited Ciudad Juarez to visit a large aid facility, as well as a visit to Corpus Christi parish, which is largely serving farm workers and their families. On Thursday, the bishops plan to take a visit to Hatch, New Mexico to meet farmers there who grow and pick the valley’s world famous chilis.

The bishops also met with groups of Central American migrants in Ciudad Juarez who had been waiting in Mexico for a chance to cross the border.

“It’s devastating to see that these dreams that they have, dreams that my own parents had as immigrants to the United States from Mexico some 60 years ago, and people continue with those dreams,” said Bishop Oscar Cantu of San Jose, formerly bishop of Las Cruces.

“We know that they’re coming not to take advantage of this wonderful, generous country, but rather to have an opportunity to work and to raise their families in safety and dignity.”

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, apprehensions of “unaccompanied alien children” has risen by nearly 75% from May 2018 to May 2019. The rise in apprehensions is led by El Paso, which has seen a 323% rise in that period.

The rise in apprehensions of families is higher— 463% across the board. El Paso’s rate of apprehension of families rose 2,100%.

Bishop John Stowe of the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky, formerly a priest of the diocese of El Paso, praised the work of Catholics in the diocese working to welcome migrants. 

“The Diocese of El Paso has given an example for the whole country of how to welcome immigrants, how to love immigrants, how to clothe immigrants, how to provide shelter to immigrants, how to treat them as brothers and sisters and receive them here,”

The Department of Homeland Security announced new Migrant Protection Protocols in January, providing that migrants arriving illegally or without proper documentation “may be returned to Mexico and wait outside of the U.S. for the duration of their immigration proceedings, where Mexico will provide them with all appropriate humanitarian protections for the duration of their stay.”
https://www.dhs.gov/news/2019/01/24/migrant-protection-protocols
These policies, Stowe noted, have meant that that tens of thousands of migrants are “stuck” on the Mexico side of the border, as asylum claims can take years to process.

“It was just months ago that thousands of people were coming across the border, flooding this city, and they were received in shelters throughout this city by people of faith who reached out. Not only our Catholic Church but other churches in town, reaching out and serving them. That’s a beautiful example for the whole country; it’s what our nation was founded on, and it’s specifically important for our Catholic Church.”

In terms of practical actions the faithful in El Paso have taken, Seitz told CNA that the diocese in Oct. 2018 opened a shelter at the pastoral center, a “purely volunteer response,” to deal with the large number of people passing through the city. The temporary shelter has since closed due to a drop in the number of migrants passing through.

“Right now, we’ve seen a huge drop off in the number of people coming because of enforcement actions in Mexico,” Seitz noted.

“So what’s happening is there’s kind of a bottleneck in Ciudad Juarez, and we estimate that there are up to 20,000 people that are pretty much stuck there. They’re afraid to go home, because that’s where they’re fleeing from…they’re afraid to stay in Mexico, because most of them have faced violence there.”

Robberies and kidnappings among the migrants waiting in Mexico are common, he said.

The HOPE Border Institute, along with the Diocese of El Paso, in July initiated a Border Refugee Assistance Fund to send money to organizations working with migrants and refugees in Juarez.

“Do we believe there is a usefulness to a border? Absolutely. The Church has not problem with that usefulness. But we also know that there are higher laws than than the law that has to do with a nation’s border.”

“We are Catholic Christians, and we are citizens. If the two ever come into conflict, we need to be Catholic Christians first,” Seitz told CNA.

The majority of the migrants that the Church in El Paso helps have already been processed by ICE and are awaiting their court date for asylum.

“The fact is that most of these people that are crossing, seeking asylum, are not breaking the law. They’re following the law that was established for people like our ancestors who came here seeking refuge…And we need to try and see things through the eyes of Jesus Christ and through the teachings of our Church. And those teachings should be clear when they say that if we encounter someone in need, we need to do what we can to help them.”

 

 

 

 

 

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This secular Franciscan lived among lepers. Could he become Zimbabwe’s first saint?

September 26, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Harare, Zimbabwe, Sep 26, 2019 / 04:00 am (CNA).- British-born John Bradburne, who died in Zimbabwe 40 years ago, could be on his way to becoming the country’s first canonized saint.

Bradburne is a revered figure among the Catholic community in the landlocked southern African country of Zimbabwe. According to reports, Bradburne was shot in the back after he was abducted from his hut in Mutemwa in the north-east of Zimbabwe.

Who was he?

Born in 1921 to Anglican parents in Cumbria, England, Bradburne converted to Catholicism in 1947 while living with Benedictine monks, after he had a religious experience during World War II.

He lived after his conversion as a pilgrim, shuttling between England, the Middle East and Italy, living out of one bag. He was a prolific poet.

Bradburne joined the Secular Third Order Franciscan in 1956.

He later made contact with Fr. John Dove, a Jesuit friend living in Zimbabwe. Bradburne asked whether there was a “cave in Africa” where he could pray. Dove encouraged him to move to Zimbabwe, where he arrived in 1962.

In Zimbabwe, he told a Franciscan priest the three desires of his life: “to serve leprosy patients, to die a martyr, and to be buried in the Franciscan habit.”

In 1969, seven years after his arrival in the country , Bradburne’s desire to care for leprosy-afflicted patients was fulfilled, when he was appointed the lead caretaker at Mutemwa Leprosy Settlement, a center that cared for leprosy patients.

Bradburne spent hours with patients. He rose at 3:00 each morning, and washed patients, bandaged them, ate with them, and talked with them. Some of them he carried to Mass. But he clashed with leaders at the center over the conditions in which patients lived, and eventually, he was fired.

He was allowed to live in a deserted single-roomed tin hut in the settlement compound.

His house had no running water, but he was glad to be within the vicinity of the lepers, whom he continued helping in whatever way he could.

During Zimbabwe’s civil war, which lasted from 1964 until 1979, Bradburne protected the lepers from exploitation, something that raised suspicion, especially, locals say, because he was a foreigner, and his motives were frequently suspect.

Locals became hostile towards him, but he refused offers from other Christians to take him to safety.

Bradburne died on Sept. 5, 1979 when he was shot dead at age 58.  He was buried in the Franciscan habit, as he had hoped to be.

During his burial, three unexplained drops of blood were found below his coffin, reports say.

For his compassion toward the afflicted, Bradburne has been called the “Damien of the 20th century” in reference to St. Damian of Molokai who cared for lepers in Hawaii.

“He did a good thing, and that is what it is about. The love the lepers continue to have for him, because of his sacrifices, is truly astonishing.” Kate McPherson of the John Bradburne Memorial Trust told reporters in July.

In an interview with BBC, Fr Fidelis Mukonori who worked closely with the Bradburne recalled his friend’s account of living with lepers, “From the day I set my eyes on these people, I discovered I am also a leper among my own people.”

“Working for and with them I feel appreciated, that I am doing something good and they call me Baba [Father] John,” Mukonori remembered Bradburne telling him.

“He arrived with few possessions, only love,” Colleta Mafuta, 78, a leprosy survivor who knew Bradburne told BBC.

“The colony was filthy and the people were dirty. There was no medication, no clothes and people went hungry. He took care of everyone’s needs – feeding people, and washing and bandaging our sores,” she added.

According to Independent Catholic News, two people have claimed miraculous cures through Bradburne’s intercession: a woman in South African who regained the use of her legs, and a man in Scotland cured of a brain tumor.

On July 1, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved initial investigations into Bradburne’s sainthood cause. On Sept. 5, Archbishop Robert Ndlovu of Harare celebrated a Mass at Mutemwa where Bradburne served, to mark 40 years since his death and to officially launch his sainthood cause.

 

A version of this story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s African news partner. It has been adapted by CNA.
 

 

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March for life and family in Mexico opposes abortion, organized crime

September 25, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Mexico City, Mexico, Sep 26, 2019 / 12:02 am (CNA).- Pro-life advocates took to the streets throughout Mexico on Sept. 21 to march for life, family, and conscience protections.

Marches were held in some 100 cities across the country, including Guadalajara, Querétaro, Xalapa, Monterrey, Pachuca, Huejutla, Tlaxcala, Chilpancingo, Puebla, Naucalpan, Celaya, Guanajuato, Hidalgo. Additionally, marches took place in the United States at the Mexican consulates in Chicago and San Diego.

Organizers estimated that some 500,000 people participated throughout the country.

A statement read at events in different cities stressed the need to reject a culture of death and “build an authentic culture of life.”

“For this to happen, we have to start with the family, the basic cell of society,” the statement said. “We reiterate that the function of the government is to ensure everyone’s rights…If we can’t guarantee life, we will hardly be able to guarantee other fundamental rights.”

The marches also condemned organized crime, extortions, kidnappings, and other acts of violence, calling on government officials to “make Mexico a safe place to live, where the lives of all Mexicans are guaranteed, the first human right. Today not one less Mexican!”

Mexican actor and producer Eduardo Verástegui greeted participants at the marches on the National Front for the Family’s Facebook page.

“I want to thank the National Front for the Family for all this effort, for all this support that they give women,” he said.

He also encouraged participants to see the movie Unplanned, which will premier throughout Mexico in October. The movie, entitled Inesperado in Spanish, shows the real story of an abortion clinic worker, Abby Johnson, who underwent a powerful conversion upon seeing an abortion take place. Today, Johnson runs a ministry called And Then There Were None, which helps other abortion workers leave the industry.

Verástegui said the movie portrays “a very powerful story, with a pro-life, pro-woman and pro-family message. It’s very important for everyone in Mexico to see it.”

In a statement to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language partner, Rodrigo Iván Cortés, president of the National Front for the Family, said the marches were intended “to give a voice to those who have no voice. We want to embrace Mexico and say loudly and clearly: Not one less Mexican.”

“Mexico is suffering from a terrible culture of death that is tearing apart families, and from illegal organized crime that is taking away the lives of many Mexicans,” he lamented.

He said that politicians at both the state and federal level aggravate the problem rather than solving it, by “adding to illegal organized crime the legal organized crime of abortion.”

Cortés also warned against efforts by politicians to impose gender ideology in schools, rather than working to strengthen and reinforce the institution of marriage.

“There will only be peace if life is respected, there will only be development if the family is respected, and there will only be authentic democracy if fundamental freedoms are respected such as conscience or belief, and if the freedom of parents to educate their children is respected,” he said.

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

[…]

Sex abuse scandal leaves Australian Church, gov’t scrambling for solutions 

September 25, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Sydney, Australia, Sep 25, 2019 / 06:40 pm (CNA).- In the wake of a major clergy sex abuse scandal and the high-profile, controversial trial and conviction of sex abuse of Cardinal George Pell, government and Church officials in Australia are scrambling for solutions.

Among these proposed or enacted interventions are those that would break with teachings or traditions of the Catholic Church.

One such oft-proposed intervention is the scrapping of the seal of confession, a proposed solution included in the Australian Royal Commission’s report on clergy abuse published last year.

Earlier this month, the Australian states of Victoria and Tasmania passed a law requiring priests to violate the seal of confession if anything in the confession indicated or implicated someone in a case of child sex abuse. The laws add religious leaders to the existing list of mandatory reporters, and failure to report abuse is punishable by time in prison.

Unlike in other countries with similar laws and policies, reports of child abuse made in a sacramental context are no longer exempt and must be reported.

A similar bill is being considered in Queensland, ABC in Australia reported.

If priests were to follow this law, they would be in serious violation of the teachings of the Catholic Church. According to the Code of Canon Law: “The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church also states that priests are bound to keep confessions secret without exceptions: “Given the delicacy and greatness of this ministry and the respect due to persons, the Church declares that every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him. He can make no use of knowledge that confession gives him about penitents’ lives. This secret, which admits of no exceptions, is called the ‘sacramental seal,’ because what the penitent has made known to the priest remains ‘sealed’ by the sacrament.”

Bishops in both Tasmania and Victoria have said that their priests are unable to follow these news laws. The bishops of Australia also defended the seal of confession in their written response to the Royal Commission report last year.

“Personally, I’ll keep the seal,” Archbishop Peter Comensoli during an August 14 interview with ABC Radio Melbourne, shortly after the bill was introduced to the Victorian parliament. The archbishop said that he would urge anyone who confessed to abuse to report themselves to the police. However, a priest is forbidden from ordering a penitent to turn themselves in to the authorities.

Australian priest Fr. Kevin Dillon told ABC radio in Australia that he believes the seal could be changed because the rules of the seal of confession are “not written in scripture” and instead are taken from the tradition of the Church.

In another reaction to the sex abuse crisis, some Catholic officials have said that the formation of seminarians needs to be completely reimagined.

Typically, a seminarian studying to be a priest enters 7-8 year program of classes in philosophy and theology, with focuses on spiritual, human, academic and pastoral formation.

But according to an investigation by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, using data from the Royal Commission’s investigation, “seminaries had become places where repressed young men would experiment sexually with one another with little consequence, before some of them turned their attention to children in their parish,” The Age reported.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, president of the Australian bishops’ conference, told Crux in August 2018 that “In seeking to combat clericalism, we need to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Clearly, it requires a radical revision of how we recruit and prepare candidates for ordination. Much has changed in our seminaries, but one has to wonder whether seminaries are the place or way to train men for the priesthood now.”

The Age reports that a new “national program of priestly formation” is already being developed and will be considered by the Australian bishop’s conference in November.

One change already announced by Church leaders is that seminarians will be subjected to the same training and screening as other Church officials by the Catholic Professional Standards Ltd, a group that safeguards against child sex abuse through trainings and audits of Catholic bishops, priests and religious. The independent group is chaired by a lay board; its members are the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia.

Sheree Limbrick, chief executive of Catholic Professional Standards Limited, told The Age that a rethinking of seminary formation should also include “ongoing formation, support and supervision” of seminarians and priests, and that the audit process would help hold seminarians and priests accountable.

Francis Sullivan, the previous head of the church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council, told The Age that within the Church there are already “quite a lot of conversations about whether the seminary model is fit for purpose any more – that a revamp of the system is long overdue.”

“I think people like Archbishop Mark Coleridge are seriously considering whether the system works or whether there should be more of a focus on seminarians being integrated into academic and parish life,” he said.

The Age reports that Coleridge has previously mentioned a possible “apprenticeship model” of formation for seminarians, where they would study the same classes but have a closer relationship with a parish on the ground level. Coleridge declined further comment to The Age on the subject.

Shane Healy, a spokesman for the Melbourne Archdiocese, told The Age there was “no intention” to close the diocesan seminary, Corpus Christi, and that the bishops and leadership of the school were “committed to Corpus Christi College being a place of excellence in the formation of our future priests.”

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