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Tallahassee, Fla., Nov 4, 2016 / 03:40 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A group that has been tied to the idea of a “Catholic Spring” revolution in leaked emails may have tried to intimidate pastors at Catholic Churches in Florida during the last presidential election.

Ahead of the 2012 elections, the group Catholics United sent a letter to Florida pastors saying it was monitoring for reputed illegal political activity in Catholic churches – which state Catholic leaders saw as an effort to silence the Church.

An internal message to Catholic pastors from the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops said the letter was inaccurate and appeared to be “an attempt to silence pastors on issues that are of concern to the Church this election season.”

James Salt, then-executive director of the group Catholics United, had sent the Oct. 22, 2012 letter to priests in Florida, claiming to have recruited “a network of local volunteers to monitor parishes and document the nature of all partisan activity taking place there.”

Catholics United is back in the news with the publication of a February 2012 email exchange involving John Podesta, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s present campaign manager.

Podesta indicated that the groups Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good had been created for moments of controversy involving Catholic bishops, like the religious freedom controversy over federally mandated contraceptive coverage in health plans. He said the two groups lacked leadership for such a role.

Using a phrase of his interlocutor, progressive leader Sandy Newman, Podesta suggested a “Catholic Spring” could be organized within the Church. The phrase invokes the imagery of the so-called Arab Spring uprisings.

Salt’s letter later that year claimed there had been “numerous IRS violations” in Florida Catholic parishes such as partisan references during homilies, political endorsements printed in church bulletins, and the distribution of partisan literature in church parking lots. He told pastors that Catholics United had retained a law firm to help protect them and their parish community from losing tax exempt status.

Catholics United had previously tussled with the group Priests for Life in the 2008 elections, claiming the group was partisan and had trained thousands of activists to place political literature on churchgoing Catholics’ cars.

Salt invoked the U.S. bishops, telling pastors, “As you know, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has a very clear prohibition against any sort of partisan activity taking place within Catholic parishes.”

The Florida Catholic bishops’ conference, however, responded that activities to “raise awareness of issues and promote political responsibility” do not jeopardize tax exempt status. It referred to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Election and Political Activities Guide for guidance.

Chris Hale, who became executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good in December 2013, told CNA he respected his predecessors’ work, but he suggested his group’s perspective has changed.

“I think that the previous leadership of Catholics United was looking to the signs of the time and figuring out how to best protect parishioners in the pews and make sure they heard a message that was consistent with the social teaching of the Church,” he said Nov. 2.

“That being said, I don’t think that message that was taken in 2012 should be crafted in 2016,” he added. “I’m of the opinion that pastors should speak freely, priests should speak freely from the pulpit about the issues pertaining to Catholics in this election.”

Hale voiced hope priests would do so “in a way that would represent the totality of the Church’s social teaching,” adding “no pastor should feel threatened in any capacity that their First Amendment rights should be infringed.”

According to Hale, Catholics in Alliance and Catholics United effectively merged in 2015.

James Salt is currently a board member of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. He previously served in faith outreach for the Kansas Democratic Party, did messaging work under then-Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, and served on the 2012 Democratic Party Platform Committee.

Salt’s 2012 letter asked Florida pastors to “protect your parish from losing its tax-exempt status” by taking a pledge, titled “Keep Politics Out of Our Pulpits.” He said this would demonstrate pastors’ commitment and help ensure their parish is free from “any illegal political activity.”

The reputed pledge solicited the pastor’s name and house of worship. It asked that pledges be sent to the Catholics United Education Fund in Washington, D.C. The education fund, whose Pennsylvania affiliate Keystone Catholics is now an arm of Catholics in Alliance, was the 501c3 arm of Catholics United.

For its part, the Florida Catholic bishops’ conference recommended that pastors not sign the pledge.

The response to the Catholics United letter and pledge was written by Michele M. Taylor, who at the time was the state Catholic conference’s associate director for communications. The internal response was published on the website of the Diocese of Orlando without the knowledge of the Catholic conference.

Taylor recounted the situation to CNA in October 2012.

“Our pastors had received faxes from Catholics United telling them that their activities would jeopardize 501c3 status,” Taylor said. “We disagree with that. As long as their activities are within the guidelines that we put out from this office, they’re fine.”

In an Oct. 30, 2012 press release, Catholics United misidentified the source of the Catholic response, wrongly claiming it came from the Diocese of Orlando. The group portrayed the diocese as refusing “to keep partisan politics out of its pulpits.”

“In this election year, and especially in a swing state like Florida, lay Catholics have been inundated with nasty political attacks,” Salt said, claiming that the Orlando diocese was encouraging “political games.”

“This request was apparently out of line for the diocese. It’s a shame Orlando Catholics have to endure this type of politicking in their churches,” he added.

The issue of Catholic messaging was on the mind of politico John Podesta, according to other emails posted to WikiLeaks and attributed to his email account.

In a Nov. 4, 2012 email, one Jon Schnur wrote Podesta that he was concerned about many Catholic churches that “may be giving highly problematic messages to parishioners/voters today.” In the email, written the Sunday before Election Day, Schnur said he was especially concerned about churches in the states of Ohio, Wisconsin, Colorado and Pennsylvania.

Schnur, whose wife is Catholic, said he thought the parish he attended in New Orleans that weekend was “over the top.” He worried this messaging could be well-organized in the Catholic Church, “even if they would argue somehow doesn't cross political lines.”

He asked Podesta whether there was any sense of this in the Obama campaign.

“Anything can be done about it? In terms of respected Catholic validators, microtargeting, etc. in key heavily Catholic areas in swing communities?”

Podesta replied Nov. 5, 2012:

“I think the campaign is dealing with it as best they can. Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good have also done a bunch of work in relevant places. For the people who I sit with in the pews, it kind of goes in one ear and out the other.”

Schnur was not identified, though a man of the same name is a past education adviser to president Obama and now heads an education policy consultancy. CNA contacted him for comment but did not receive a response by deadline.

Hale told CNA he thought letters like Salt’s were particular to Florida. He suggested that the Podesta email referred to work like the Catholics in Alliance 2012 voting guide. The group did some organizing in Ohio and worked to ensure Catholic voting access.

After the 2012 elections, on Nov. 21, Salt again criticized the bishops.

“It’s a shame that rather than being pastors to their flock, many bishops have decided to engage in divisive political games,” he said. “Hopefully, this election is a wake-up call for the bishops, and a strong reminder to cut their partisan ties and get back to serving the Gospel mandate of helping the poorest and most vulnerable.”

According to Hale, skeptics of Catholics in Alliance’s past should look at its current work.

“I would say that time and again we’ve shown ourselves to be solid practitioners of the gospel in public life and we do it in a way that challenges everyone without exception,” he said. “I can tell you since I’ve been in charge in December 2013 that we’ve promoted the social mission of the Church, without exception.”

Hale’s group has drawn criticism for its avoidance of criticizing Hillary Clinton by name. However, he maintained, “We get criticism all the time from the left and the right for not falling in line.” He pointed to the group’s support of the Hyde Amendment when it was opposed by the Democratic Party platform.

Last year, the group also criticized Planned Parenthood in the wake of undercover videos appearing to show its staff and leaders engaged in the illegal sale of aborted babies’ body parts and tissues. Its actions drew a critical response from Catholics for Choice, a pro-abortion rights front group.

Though Catholics United no longer exists in name, its influence is still remembered in 2016.

After the Podesta emails became public, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia recounted his 2008 encounter with two unnamed leaders in Catholics United.

“Both men were obvious flacks for the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party – creatures of a political machine, not men of the Church; less concerned with Catholic teaching than with its influence,” he said Oct. 13. “They hoped my brother bishops and I would resist identifying the Church with single-issue and partisan (read: abortion) politics.”

“Thanks to their work, and activists like them, American Catholics helped to elect an administration that has been the most stubbornly unfriendly to religious believers, institutions, concerns and liberty in generations,” the archbishop said.

 

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Denver, Colo., Nov 4, 2016 / 04:17 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The reality of evil and the tender mercy of Jesus Christ were on the mind of Denver’s new auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez at his ordination Mass.

“Let the words of Jesus penetrate your own heart,” Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver said at the Nov. 4 Mass. “Jesus’ words are full of tenderness. They are full of compassion. His deepest desire is to reveal the Father to the world.”
 
“May you proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ boldly, in season and out of season, and invite others to his mercy and into the very heart of the Trinity,” he told the new bishop.

Pope Francis named Bishop Rodriguez, 61, to be ordained the next auxiliary bishop of Denver. He has served as a priest in the archdiocese for more than 10 years.

Archbishop Aquila consecrated Bishop Rodriguez at Denver’s Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, emeritus Archbishop of Denver, and Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles were co-consecrators.

Over 200 priests, 10 bishops and one abbot processed into the cathedral for the start of the Mass.

Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, read Pope Francis’ official apostolic letter appointing the bishop to Denver.

In his homily, Archbishop Aquila reflected upon Bishop Rodriguez’s chosen motto, from the Virgin Mary’s Magnificat: “Mercy from Generation to Generation.”

“Learn from our beloved Mother: make a home in your heart for her,” the archbishop exhorted. “She was one who understood her unworthiness. She was one who saw herself as a lowly servant. But she was one who had great trust and confidence in God.”

Every disciple of Jesus is called to that trust and confidence in God and to proclaim his mercy, the archbishop said. He cited St. Paul’s counsel to be fervent in spirit, to persevere in prayer, to rejoice in hope and to exercise hospitality.

“As Jesus continues to pray for us, he prays ‘keep them from the evil one’,” the archbishop told Bishop Rodriguez.

He said it is important “to understand that evil is real,” remembering that Pope Francis speaks frequently about the devil and temptations and “how the evil one works.”
 
“The media certainly does not like the fact that he speaks of evil and the devil, and they mock it and tend to ignore it,” Archbishop Aquila said. “But when one looks at the confusion in the world today, when one looks at the advance of the culture of death, of the ‘throwaway society’ that Pope Francis speaks of, underlining it all is the evil one. He is the one who brings chaos, he is the one who brings confusion, and he is the one who hates the truth.”

“The words of Jesus ring true: you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” he continued. “That truth is a person: Jesus, who identifies himself as the way, the truth and the life.”

“You my beloved brother are entrusted as a bishop to invite others to encounter the truth of Jesus Christ,” Archbishop Aquila told Bishop Rodriguez.

The new auxiliary bishop was born March 22, 1955 in Mérida, Mexico, in the state of Yucatán, where his family still resides.

Archbishop Aquila said that the new Bishop Rodriguez would be “a tremendous blessing” to the Hispanic community in northern Colorado. More than half of the Catholics in the Archdiocese of Denver are Hispanic. Sixty of the archdiocese’s 115 parishes have Mass in Spanish.

At the same time, the archbishop acknowledged the cultural diversity in the archdiocese and the unity of the faith.

“The beauty of the Church is that she is one in Christ, no matter what he culture, no matter what nationality one may be… it is Christ who binds us all together and makes us brothers and sisters to one another,” he said.

Bishop Rodriguez has served as pastor at Holy Cross Parish in Thornton, Colo. since 2014. He is a former professor and vice-rector of St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver.

The future bishop joined the Legionaries of Christ after high school. He was ordained a priest Dec. 24, 1987. He has been a theology professor and dean of the theology department of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome.

 

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Carol Glatz

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Women religious are often the first people to discover problems emerging in society because they work directly with so many people in need, an anti-trafficking advocate said.

However, because religious focus more on providing assistance than publicizing their efforts, the rest of the world is often slower to catch on to where there is trouble, said Ivonne van de Kar, the coordinator of the Foundation of Religious Against Trafficking of Women in the Netherlands.

Women religious in the Netherlands, for example, "had started to work with women in prostitution when there was absolutely no attention (given to) them," and they provided a safe space for women to rest and chat, she told Catholic News Service Nov. 4.

Offering coffee and a listening ear, the women religious were finding out as early as 1981 that some women were being forced into the sex trade and that marked the beginning of the sisters' work against trafficking. The religious quickly involved the police and later some other organizations, including van de Kar's in the early 1990s.

"Very often it's the sisters who discover a problem because they work with the people and they see what is happening on the streets and are there for them," she said.

But speaking up more about their work is "one of the things I always tell them," so they can widen the scope of awareness and the response to so many problems, she said.

"We help the sisters do more with PR, to make people aware of the fantastic work that has been done," she said, adding that the pope recognizing and thanking women religious for their anti-trafficking work was also encouraging and very helpful.

But, van de Kar noted that the sharply decreasing number of women religious in the Netherlands will be a blow to the critical work they carry out.

"It's very difficult for a layperson to follow in the footsteps of a religious sister," primarily because laypeople need a competitive salary to make ends meet, so the cost of filling vacancies left by consecrated women and men could be prohibitive, she said. Religious congregations, on the other hand, are able to assign and support their members wherever they are needed, she said.

Helping to expand the influence and impact of women religious is the network RENATE -- Religious in Europe Networking Against Trafficking and Exploitation-- which was founded in 2009. Network members, including van de Kar, were meeting in Rome Nov. 6-12. They were scheduled to have an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican Nov. 7.

The meeting will look at ways everyone in society and the church can do something to prevent and end human trafficking, she said.

They are hoping to involve more clergy in global efforts, she said, by getting seminaries and ongoing formation programs to include specific courses on how to recognize abuse, exploitation and trafficking, and on what to do with suspicions.

"Your eyes have to be opened to see it. If you never heard of it, you can't see it," she said, but once the problem is explained, "all of a sudden you can see it everywhere."

The church also needs to establish or strengthen collaboration with state or local police because "they find the victims" during the course of their work, van de Kar said, and those victims need the kind of help the church can provide.

Getting consumers to stop expecting cheap products and services is also key, she said.

"If you have the feeling something is not right, like two T-shirts for 5 euros -- that's impossible. Who is paying the price? We always have to ask ourselves, who is paying the price for this and it's not the big industry and the organization, but it is always the people, the victims -- they are paying the price."

"We as consumers are a big group and can do something about trafficking" by paying for products and services that do not involve exploitation, she said.

Forced labor is growing in many sectors, she said, including the garment industry, seaports, nail salons and even "forced begging" on the streets.

Forced labor is still a fundamental part of the sex trade, said Sister Monica Chikwe, who works with trafficked Nigerian women in Italy. She told CNS that as long as demand remains high, traffickers will just replace the women that the sisters rescue with new recruits.

While it's necessary to get laws passed that prosecute traffickers, they are also trying to "appeal to the conscience of many men because this is what is perpetrating this problem," said the sister who is a member of the Hospitaler Sisters of Mercy. "If the demand is not there, traffickers will stop, so it's good to tackle the problem from the root cause."

The church can spread the word with Mass homilies and school programs, including sexual education, she said. Families, too, need to speak up and teach their children very early "that the body of a lady is not a toy."

When kids grow in understanding and they see in their own family that every person's body is to be shown respect, including one's own, "that will help society" and the family, she said.

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