Washington D.C., Feb 1, 2018 / 04:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As urban Catholic schools nationwide are closing their doors, it may come as a surprise that the Catholic Cristo Rey Network says it is on-pace to expand to a total of 50 schools within the next… […]
Houston, Texas, Feb 1, 2018 / 03:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Catholic parish in Houston is encouraging sports fans to pray with handmade rosaries in the colors of their favorite professional teams. They’re encouraging the Pope to pray with one too…. […]
Denver, Colo., Feb 1, 2018 / 12:04 pm (CNA).- On August 21, 2015, childhood friends Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone were just three Americans enjoying a European adventure.
They had planned to stay in Amsterdam an extra day, but changed their minds last minute and boarded the express train to Paris. They didn’t expect to come face-to-face with an armed man who would open-fire in their cabin, which was carrying 554 passengers. But they did.
They didn’t have much time. Stone tackled the gunman first, and worked together with Sadler and Skarlatos to overpower the man and effectively thwart the attack.
The gunman, who was identified as Ayoub El-Khazzani, was a Moroccan national who had been on the radar of several European counterterrorism agencies. He was carrying several weapons, including a Kalashnikov, automatic pistol and razor blades.
However, the three American men – plus one British man named Chris Norman – were able to successfully stop El-Khazzani before the attack turned fatal. Stone sustained serious injuries which required surgery. But they prevented something far worse.
At the time, Sadler was just a senior in college at Sacramento State University, while Skarlatos and Stone were in the military. The three had been friends since middle-school.
Now, the heroic trio are starring in the latest Clint Eastwood film, “15:17 to Paris.” They play themselves and recount the entire event on the big screen.
The film’s will be released in theaters nationwide on Feb. 9.
CNA recently interviewed Sadler, Skarlatos and Stone. Below is the full interview, edited for clarity.
Can you share a little about your faith and the impact it has had on your lives?
STONE: I was raised in a Christian home, my entire life. Went to church every Sunday with my mom and brother and sister and Wednesday night church, too. I believed [in God] my entire life. God for me is someone that is always there and always will have my back, whether it’s a good or bad situation. And it’s in the Bible, He’s not going to put you through anything that you can’t handle. And, I think that’s what I fell back on in the moment on the train. I didn’t necessarily at that second think ‘God’s got my back,’ but I knew it. There was an opportunity to do something good. I believe those are the times where we’re vessels to be used by Him, to do His work. And it was an honor to do something that good.
SADLER: I’ve been going to church all my life. My dad is a pastor. He became a pastor when I was older. We were a strong Baptist household. We went to church every Sunday, all the services. My family is Christian, faith-believing and I’ve grown up that way. And as far as on the train that day, God had His hand on us, because so many things could’ve went the other way for us. And the fact that they went the way they did, it’s divine intervention. It’s that by definition. We knew He had His hand on us, because of the calm that we had as we were falling into our different roles that day – looking back on it in hindsight. That calm, I know where that comes from now that I’ve had a chance to evaluate that day. And I’m thankful that He had His hand on us that day.
SKARLATOS: I grew up next to Spencer’s family. We went to the same church for the longest time. We all met in a Christian school. I’ve been to church pretty much ever since I can remember. If you look at the statistics of everything that happened, the odds of being in a terrorist attack are astronomical, the odds of surviving it, the odds of surviving it and being the ones that stopped it. There’s so many little circumstances. The odds of our exact situation happening to us are too astronomical to believe that it was purely chance, especially when you look at the fact that we were thinking about staying in Amsterdam another day and we didn’t. The fact that we moved seats from coach to first class. So many different little things that are hard for even us to remember – all the different circumstances that put us there in that exact time and place. But to me it’s too coincidental to be chance. God had a hand in it, because we shouldn’t be here today to be honest.
How did your faith influence your actions on the train? What prompted you to act so heroically in the face of eminent danger?
SADLER: We were vessels being used. I don’t even know how I got the first aid kit, but somehow it was in my hands. Alek was doing his thing clearing the car. Spencer saw somebody was bleeding and crawled over there. When did we think of that? We didn’t think. We were just being used.
STONE: How well everything fell into place, you would think we rehearsed it. It was pretty much like we took over the train. I never felt more calm in my entire life. I knew exactly what we should do in that moment. It almost felt like someone pushed me towards it. I knew in my mind I had to go, and something greater stood me up. I think that’s why they’re still confused about how I got up so fast. I don’t know how I got up so fast either. I’m pretty slow!
What was your experience like filming “15:17 to Paris,” and reliving those tense moments on the train?
STONE: It was pretty crazy when we did the scene of Mark bleeding out. That was the only time I really felt like I had a true flashback, because everything was the same. It was the same amount of blood, same clothes. That was probably the most memorable part on the train for me.
SKARLATOS: It definitely made it easier to get back into character. You have to remember how it was on the actual day. And, I don’t know about the other guys, but it would trigger an adrenaline rush in me and it make it easier to feel the same emotions that we actually felt the day on the train.
SADLER: It shows how much the details matter, like same clothes, same people, train attendants, everything. That made it all feel authentic.
What do you hope viewers will take away from the film?
SADLER: I want them to take exactly what it is. The fact that we’re three ordinary guys that were faced with an extraordinary, crazy situation. And the reason why we acted the way we did that day is because of our friendship – the back-story matters. And then take away that they can, as people, a regular person, do something great, too. To feel like things are possible that they previously didn’t think were possible.
STONE: I want them to take away that in our story, we thought we had no chance at all. I thought I was going to die. We’re all regular people. We’re very regular guys.
How has your experience on the train/filming the movie impacted your lives moving forward? Has it changed the way you live, or taught you any particular lessons?
SKARLATOS: I think making the film taught us a lot about ourselves. Then working through the process ourselves, we discovered a lot of things about ourselves, about our friendship, how we interact. And, for me I learned from the movie not to be afraid to try new things in life.
It cured a lot of my fears, even of public speaking. You know, if I can survive a terrorist attack, when the next challenge in life comes, it’s nothing in comparison.
STONE: We definitely learned a lot about each other throughout the last two years in general. We’ve known each other our entire lives, but, we’ve spent most our lives apart, going off on our own paths and different avenues. We, in a sense, got to learn more about each other as adults and through this experience. We knew each other, but now we really know each other. And we’re bonded forever through all of our experiences.
SADLER: For me it was the first time in my life I finally felt like I was on track. I was going to go into my senior year at college and I didn’t know after that year was over what I was going to do next.
And then once the attack happened and everything else that’s happened in the last two years, and the fact that the movie happened, the way it’s all lined up, I feel like I’m finally on the track that I’m supposed to be on. So, I don’t know what comes next, but I’m on the plan that’s been set for me. That’s a good feeling, I have confidence in knowing I’m going in the right direction.
Minneapolis, Minn., Jan 31, 2018 / 05:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday, the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles will go head-to-head in Super Bowl LII, facing off to claim the Lombardi Trophy at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, MN.  … […]
Washington D.C., Jan 31, 2018 / 03:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Echoing an earlier USCCB comment about President Donald Trump’s proposed framework on immigration reform released last week, Bishop Joe S. Vasquez, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migr… […]
Denver, Colo., Jan 31, 2018 / 11:31 am (CNA).- A new app allows users to digitally alter pornography videos, placing the faces of celebrities onto the bodies of porn stars.
Called FakeApp, the program uses neural network technology to replace t… […]
Denver, Colo., Jan 31, 2018 / 05:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Not long ago, introducing more technology into the classroom meant allowing third graders to play 15 minutes of Oregon Trail during recess time.
In recent years, particularly after the emergence of smartphones and other mobile devices circa 2012, for many schools it has meant an iPad for every student, laptops in every classroom.
However, new research has begun highlighting the detrimental impacts of excessive screen time, particularly on developing brains and on education, sparking concerns among educators and parents. Even tech industry giants are starting to speak openly about the dangers of internet addiction and the need to monitor children’s screen time.
For Catholic schools, the issue is especially pressing, some school leaders say, because Catholic schools are concerned with the human and spiritual formation of their students.
Michael Edghill, principal of Notre Dame Catholic School in Wichita Falls, Texas, told CNA that his biggest concern is a tendency to let technology become the main driving force of education, rather than a tool of support for teachers and students.
“For a Catholic school, that is a bad paradigm to fall into because it takes a rightly formed person to undertake the task of human formation, which is the mission of Catholic education,” he said. “No machine or technological tool can appropriately engage in the formation of the soul.”
Jean Twenge is a psychologist and the author of “iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy–and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood.”
Twenge told CNA that her research found the “sweet spot” for screen time for teenagers should be about 2 hours per day “for mental health, happiness, and adequate sleep. Beyond that, the risks increase, topping out at the highest levels of use.”
Notably, but perhaps not unsurprisingly, most US teens report average daily screen times well over the recommended two hours.
In 2015, research group Common Sense Media reported that more half of US teenagers spend at least four hours a day on a screen, while 25 percent of teens reported even higher uses – more than eight hours daily – with the potential of detrimental effects.
“For example, teens who use electronic devices 5 or more hours a day are 71% more likely to have a risk factor for suicide than those using devices less than an hour a day,” Twenge said. “They are also 51% more likely to not sleep enough. Teens who are online 5 or more hours a day are twice as likely to be unhappy as those online less than an hour a day.”
As for educational impacts, research has also found that smartphones can impact a person’s ability to think simply by being within reach – even if they are turned off. Another study found that students taught in computer-less classrooms performed significantly better on tests than their counterparts taught in classrooms with iPads and computers.
The human, relational and educational concerns are why some Catholics schools are taking steps to limit, if not completely ban, the use of smartphones and iPads in the classroom.
St. Benedict Elementary in Natick, Mass. is one Catholic school that has taken the approach of not using electronic technology in the classroom at all, except for very limited ways in the higher grades.
Jay Boren, headmaster of St. Benedict, told CNA that this is because the classical academy was founded by parents who had a desire for their school to be different.
“There are studies that show that (student) memory retention is better when they have written the information as opposed to having typed it. There are also benefits to learning cursive,” Boren said.
“In addition, an environment that is not inundated with fast-paced technology…allows students to cultivate the ability to sustain attention, develop concentration, and appreciate silence, which are the necessary dispositions to ponder truth, beauty, and goodness, We feel that those skills, are more important at this age level than mastering a screen that they will certainly be exposed to throughout their life at other times.”
On the other hand, Fr. Nicholas Rokitka, OFM Conv., teaches at Archbishop Curley High School in Buffalo, New York, which implemented a 1-to-1 iPad to student program four years ago.
“My major concern about technology in the classroom is the inability of the students to focus on the topic at hand and listen to the teacher,” Rokitka told CNA. “It certainly has changed the way teachers and students interact.”
Rokitka said that games and entertainment are always a potential distraction with the iPads in the classroom. While he has his room set up in a way that allows him to monitor his students’ iPad use closely, such monitoring “takes up a lot of my energy.”
There have been some positive impacts, Rokitka noted – the school has saved a lot of paper using digital homework and tests, and performance trends can be more quickly and easily recognized and addressed.
However, he added that without intentionality behind its use, technology negatively change the way students relate to one another and the world.
“On a very fundamental level, technology changes how people interact with each other. If technology is accepted wholesale without and intention, it will do more harm than good. When digital communication and social media replace face-to-face interaction, the students lose their ability to communicate,” he said. “This problem is way larger than just schools, but ultimately teachers and schools can have a dramatic input on how children learn how to use technology.”
Twenge said that she recommends schools ban the use of cellphones not only in the classroom, but during lunch as well, in order to give students a chance to interact with each other without a screen.
In interviews with students for her research, Twenge discovered students who would feel depressed and left out while their fellow students ignored them at lunch, favoring their phones instead, she wrote in the New York Daily News. “A no-phones-at-school rule would also help teens develop invaluable social skills. More and more managers tell me that young job applicants don’t look them in the eye and seem to be uncomfortable talking to people face-to-face. If our students are going to succeed in the workplace, they need more practice interacting with people in person,” she wrote. “They can get that right there at school – if they aren’t constantly on their phones.”
Edghill said that his biggest guiding principle in the use of technology in school has been intentionality – which is exactly why the school banned cell phone use in school during the school day.
“It was an intentional decision based on the fact that there was little to no educational benefit and a whole slew of potential and real problems,” he said.
“The unplanned side effect is that the students actually talk to one another before school in the mornings now instead of just staring at their individual screens.”
A father to four children between 14 and 3, Edghill noted that he and his wife try to implement the same intentionality with technology use at home, by enforcing limits and being consistent with them, though he admitted there has been a learning curve.
“I do think that the more time that they watch screens, the less creative and the less curious they are. But it is a constant battle. It may be one of the most counter-cultural things that we can do for our kids,” he said. “And that is saying something as a Catholic.”
It’s also important to note that technology is simply a tool, and “not an evil,” he said.
“The pope is active on social media. My bishop is active on Twitter. But it is for the greater good of reaching out to people in order to create the opportunity for an authentic encounter with Christ,” he said.
“If the technology is replacing humanity as opposed to being used as a tool to advance humanity, that is the problem…If we miss the human element of the teacher, of person-to-person dialogue and debate, of human experience, then we can’t fully do our part to cooperate in the formation of the human person.”
New York City, N.Y., Jan 30, 2018 / 05:07 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Hungarian cardinal has said that free societies must depend on the wisdom of religion to address the moral and social problems of the modern world.
Cardinal Peter Erdo, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, delivered the Bampton Lecture at Columbia University on Monday, Jan. 29.
Addressing Columbia students and faculty, Erdo warned about the dangers of moral relativism, and discussed the necessity of the Church in a secular state.
The cardinal said that relativism— the inability to declare something as objectively right or objectively wrong—is a “grave crisis” of modern secular states. Without a foundation in natural law, he argued, societies become unstable, and moral evil becomes permissible.
“It is difficult for the state to decide what is good for man,” said Erdo, without some foundation in natural law and a religious worldview. Absent natural law and “by a weakening of belief in the rationality of the world,” societies lose trust in democratic institutions.
”Even the majority can end up with wrong or harmful decisions, especially if the concept of the common good becomes uncertain, because there is no consensus even on the anthropological foundations of law,” explained the cardinal.
Erdo said that until the philosophical Enlightenment, societies were effectively governed with an understanding that moral law was based on transcendent realities.
“Law, morals and religion prove to form an organic whole, which is characteristic of Western society right up to the age of Enlightenment,” Erdo said.
But in the modern era, relativism has separated legal norms from the natural law, he said. “The idea of relativity and the unknowability of the natural law, or the rules of upright human behavior based on its connexion with nature, gains ground, as also does the separation of law from so-called natural morals.”
Due to the rise of relativism, the relationship between religion, the state, and a person’s worldview became “a problem.”
The separation of morality from law has led to the creation of immoral laws, such as the ones that existed in Nazi Germany, said Cardinal Erdo.
“The trials of Nuremberg showed where the separation of law and morals can lead. It was not easy to convict people whose actions were based on current, but immoral laws.”
The cardinal said that in the era of the Soviet Union, religion and morals were, in theory, replaced by Marxist-Leninist ideology. When the ideology fell, a “moral vacuum” was formed. Seeing this, leaders of formerly communist countries began trying to recreate a religious and moral framework for society, and are not bothered with “relativist ideologies.”
He mentioned that many former communist countries countries specifically mentioned the importance of religion in their new constitutions. For instance, Erdo’s home country of Hungary explicitly recognizes “churches, denominations and religious communities […] are entities of prominent importance, capable of creating values and communities.”
The cardinal noted that in the West, humanity is witness a “shaking of the anthropological foundations of democracy.”
“Western democracies presume that politicians and parties present and defend their political programs on a rational basis and that mature and responsible citizens make their choices and elect people using rational arguments,” he said.
“Today, this sounds like a utopia…the picture of reality has become very complicated.”
“There has to be a lot of trust for someone to believe the basic premises of a political program, so that the elected body, based on a democratic majority, can count on the trust of that society. It seems to be a vicious circle. We have to place our trust in somebody in anticipation, in order to let such a decision pass, in which we can trust,” he added.
Erdo expressed concern about the effect that scientific advances will have on human rights without a religious moral framework regulating society. He said that technological advances are moving quicker than legal morality can keep up, and that this is a new challenge humanity will be facing.
“But the discoveries open new levels of reality, so the description of facts needed for moral evaluation and legal treatment are falling behind,” he said.
Despite this, Erdo believes that humans “cannot grow weary” of maintaining “basic moral values,” and that these need to be applied to new situations as well.
Erdo said that the West’s Judeo-Christian heritage is centered on a belief in a benevolent God, and the hope that a Creator seeks to communicate with humanity. That communication drives trust.
“And this, beyond giving a basic moral point of view, gives something extra, which is even more important. It generates trust both in the individual and in the community,” said the cardinal.
“It generates trust that even though our cognitive abilities cannot keep up with the fullness of reality, we can always somehow reach the necessary knowledge and cognitions…the weakness of our recognition is not a reason to give up our pursuit of the truth.”
The Bampton Lectures in America were created in 1948, and feature talks from theologians, scientists, and artists.
Washington D.C., Jan 30, 2018 / 02:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholic organizations applauded the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Jan. 29 announcement that it is lifting the ban on refugees from 11 high-risk countries, with the condition of … […]
Miami, Fla., Jan 30, 2018 / 12:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The future of tens of thousands of Haitian migrants is unclear, after the Trump administration decided not to extend legal protections for them.
While the National Association for the Advanc… […]
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