Catholic News 2

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Vatican City, Oct 24, 2016 / 03:17 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Liturgical music has the ability to communicate the love of God – and it's this message that gives it the power to help bring others to Christ, said the choir director of the Diocese of Rome.

“I believe music is a powerful tool to evangelize because evangelization is to impart in the heart of man the joy of Christ, the love of Christ,” Msgr. Marco Frisina told CNA Oct. 21.

Music is like planting “this seed of joy in the heart, it is a great power.”

Msgr. Frisina, also a renowned composer, in 1984 founded the Choir of the Diocese of Rome for singing at the most important diocesan liturgies, many of which are presided over by the pope. It now comprises over 250 members.

One of the speakers at a Jubilee of Choirs which took place at the Vatican Oct. 21-23, among those who participated were laity, priests, directors of liturgical offices, choir conductors, musicians, organists and diocesan and parish choirs.

Held in liturgical memory of Saint John Paul II, the goal of the event, according to the Jubilee of Choirs website, was “to focus on music as a tool of extraordinary communication and how to live the Liturgy as the highest moment of the expression of our faith and Christian culture.”

On Saturday, all of the participating choirs joined with the Choir of the Diocese of Rome to perform a concert in the Paul VI Hall dedicated to St. John Paul II and Divine Mercy.

Friday the schedule included a training on the topic “Sing Mercy.” Speakers included Msgr. Frisina, Msgr. Vincenzo De Gregorio, president of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music and Msgr. Massimo Palombella, Director of the Choir of the Sistine Chapel.

Msgr. Palombella agreed that music can be a tool for evangelization, particularly by providing an element of unity between the different Christian religions.

“Researching about the common source of the music we can find a lot of things that allow unity between Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran,” he told CNA.

“So every year on the Solemnity of Peter and Paul there is a project which started with Pope Benedict, every year we sing together, Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and the music is the element of unity.”

Msgr. Palombella said that the Choir of the Sistine Chapel, considered to be the oldest choir in the world, doesn’t go on tour in Europe and throughout the world to only “sing good music.” Instead, it is approached as a means of evangelization.

This is possible because liturgical music, one of the sources of Western music, is able to attract and interest many people who love and care about music, not just those with a religious interest, offering a “cultural” approach to evangelization as well, he said.

The three day Jubilee of Choirs concluded on Sunday with a pilgrimage to the Holy Door, Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and the Angelus with Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square.

Msgr. Frisina emphasized that what makes music so attractive to people is the love of God contained in it.

“The power of music, for liturgical music, is the power of love,” he said. To sing about the love of God is “to pray with our whole self.”

Full Article

Baltimore, Md., Oct 24, 2016 / 03:35 pm (CNA).- Catholic Relief Services says claims that it took part in contraceptive distribution as part of a Congolese aid project were based on a lack of clarity in the project reports.

“Those who are concerned by these allegations can take further reassurance from the 12 bishops on our board, the USCCB and Congolese Bishop’s Conference who all continue to stand by us,” Catholic Relief Services told CNA Oct. 24.

On Oct. 17, the Lepanto Institute website charged that public reports about the Catholic relief agency’s participation in the Project AXxes mother and child health project showed that it received and distributed contraceptives. The project took place in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2006 to 2010, with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“CRS currently uses an elaborate ongoing review process for our programming, involving bishops on our board and top moral theologians, to ensure that we uphold Catholic teaching in all we do. If we ever do find a problem, we correct it immediately,” the relief agency said in an Oct. 19 response.

CRS said it promoted natural family planning and distributed cycle beads for this purpose. It said the Lepanto Institute did not contact the agency about the Congolese project report. Such a query “would have provided clarification.”

Catholic Relief Services said that the Project AXxes reports “do indeed seem to show CRS as receiving contraceptives,” but said the report used “unclear wording” and was prepared by “another organization that did not understand how important absolute clarity on this point is to CRS.”

The agency said another implementing organization of the project, IMA World Health, was responsible for “an alternative mechanism for the training, storage and distribution of contraceptive products,” according to an Oct. 5 letter from Richard Santos, president of IMA World Health and the lead partner in Project AXxes.

Santos said it is “plausible that reports are unclear to an outside person,” but the project reports attributing responsible zones to CRS do not mean it provided all services in the area.

“In reality, CRS was very clear with all parties that it would not engage in any activities that were contrary to Catholic teaching and that it would not promote such activities to its local Catholic partners,” Santos said.

The Lepanto Institute, citing publically available inventory reports, had charged that Catholic Relief Services stored and dispensed 2.25 million units of abortifacient contraceptives and condoms in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of Project AXxes. The project’s final report said a “key objective” was “the provision of high quality, integrated and accessible family planning services,” including provision of “a full complement of family planning methods.”

The Lepanto Institute claimed the natural family planning component was a “stepping stone” to other family planning methods, noting the final report’s comment that a post-partum woman is introduced to natural family planning and then at her six month visit is “given options for other methods of family planning – a normal step from natural to modern methods.”

The Lepanto Institute is headed by Michael Hichborn, formerly of the American Life League. It lists no other staff on its website.

Fr. Shenan J. Boquet, president of Human Life International, said he found Catholic Relief Services’ explanations of its partners’ errors “insulting” and said its response didn’t address most of the concerns “before turning to attack the motives of CRS critics.”

“Not one single person who knows how these projects work would deny that they entail birth/population control as a matter of course,” Fr. Boquet said. “This one was no different – requiring detailed quarterly reports of the receipt and storage of contraception (including abortifacient methods), as well as measurement of the program’s effectiveness in getting more women to use various methods of artificial birth control.”

He cited previous criticisms of the agency.

“Challenged on these reports, CRS routinely misleads the bishops and its supporters, issuing denials that assume great ignorance on the part of the reader as to how these complicated projects occur,” he charged.

The Conference of Congolese Bishops in a Sept. 29 letter said it “stands behind the work” of CRS. The relief agency also cited the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Administrative Committee’s 2013 statement that Catholic Relief Services’ public critics “do not speak for the Catholic Church” and that the faithful should “exercise caution and consult the CRS website for clarification before endorsing or giving credence to the groups’ critiques.”

 

Full Article

Washington D.C., Oct 24, 2016 / 03:46 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Domestic violence is a hidden epidemic that many clergy and laypersons are not properly trained to fight, says one priest who runs the country’s largest parish-based ministry to counter the problem.

“When you start talking about it, that’s when people will start coming forward,” Fr. Chuck Dahm, O.P., who directs domestic violence outreach for the Archdiocese of Chicago, told CNA about the problem of domestic abuse.

The Church's hierarchy “has not been good in getting this into the training of clergy, deacons or priests,” he said, even though a “beautiful” pastoral letter on the topic by the U.S. bishops, “When I Call for Help,” exists.

“Most priests and bishops are unaware of it,” he said. “And it should be taught and discussed in the seminaries, and it’s not.”

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. According to the CDC, “intimate partner violence” can be physical, sexual, or even emotional, as with instances of stalking or “psychological aggression.”

27 percent of women in the U.S. have suffered intimate partner violence at some point, along with 12 percent of men, the CDC has reported.

There are many physical and psychological effects of domestic violence on victims – physical injuries and disabilities and bodily effects of stress, but also anxiety, depression, and trust issues. Children witnessing violence in the home may grow up with emotional problems like anger, or may even become abusers themselves when they are adults.

In his apostolic exhortation on the family, Amoris laetitia, Pope Francis wrote of the problem of domestic abuse:

“Unacceptable customs still need to be eliminated. I think particularly of the shameful ill-treatment to which women are sometimes subjected, domestic violence and various forms of enslavement which, rather than a show of masculine power, are craven acts of cowardice. The verbal, physical, and sexual violence that women endure in some marriages contradicts the very nature of the conjugal union.”

He also insisted upon the need for parishes and priests to be ready to deal properly with these problems: “Good pastoral training is important ‘especially in light of particular emergency situations arising from cases of domestic violence and sexual abuse’,” he added, citing the final document from the 2015 Synod on the Family.

Catholics are responding to this dire need, organizing a prayer campaign for domestic abuse victims while trying to spread awareness of the problem and educate clergy on how to properly deal with instances of abuse.

A symposium on domestic abuse took place in July at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., hosted by the university’s School of Social Service.

A “toolkit” for fighting domestic abuse has been provided by the Catholics for Family Peace, Education, and Research Initiative, which includes prayers and directions for helping a victim of domestic abuse.

The group is asking everyone to pray at 3 p.m. daily for domestic abuse victims, and have called for a day of prayer on Oct. 28, the feast of St. Jude the Apostle, the patron saint of hopeless cases.

Fr. Chuck Dahm has created a parish-based ministry to combat domestic violence. A key part of his work is simply preaching about it, he says, because it is a widespread problem that hides in plain sight.

There is an “overwhelming lack of recognition that the problem is more frequent, more common than people think,” he told CNA. Many priests are completely unaware of cases of it, Fr. Chuck noted, although “there are people in their parishes who are suffering.”

“I have gone to 90 parishes in the Archdiocese of Chicago,” he said. “And after I preach about it, people walk out of the church and they tell me ‘thank you for talking about this. This is long overdue. And my sister, my daughter is in it, or I grew up in it.’ And this is so much more common than anybody realizes.”

Priests must listen when victims tell them of their abuse they’ve suffered, he insisted.

“You always have to believe the victim,” he said. “Victims do not exaggerate. If anything, they minimalize. So they have to be believed and supported.”

In one case, he said, “a victim survivor” told him of how she went to her parish priest, who “was not receptive and said he couldn’t do anything to help her.”

“Well that’s tragic,” he said. “She went and told him about the abuse she was suffering. He didn’t know how to handle it.”

Another problem is when some priests tell an abuse victim to go to marriage counseling with her husband – which “is not appropriate,” Fr. Chuck noted. “She needs domestic violence counseling and he needs perpetrator counseling,” he said. “A lot of priests don’t know that.”

Fr. Chuck participated in the symposium on domestic abuse at Catholic University this past summer.
Since then he’s seen the fruits of the conference, spreading awareness of the problem.

“A significant number went home with the plans of doing something in their diocese or their respective organizations,” he said of conference participants.

The Archdiocese of Washington just held a workshop for priests to learn how to deal with incidents of domestic abuse and 31 priests attended, he said. Two representatives of Catholic Charities in Vermont are starting a workshop for priests there, and the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City held a workshop attended by several priests and a meeting for priests with Fr. Chuck.

“It’s hard to get the priests to come to any kind of event like this,” Fr. Chuck acknowledged.

Unfortunately, it’s been negative incidents that have driven the conversation about domestic abuse, he said. For instance, when surveillance videos surfaced of former NFL running back Ray Rice punching his fiancée, and then dragging her off an elevator while she was unconscious, the “subsequent outrage” after that and other incidents like it “helps create more awareness about the problem.”

Then “people feel a little bit more comfortable and required to speak out about this and do something about it,” Fr. Chuck explained. “The publicity about negative events or harmful events is quite helpful in raising awareness.”

“We’re really behind on this,” he said of the Church’s efforts to combat the problem, while noting at the same time that “we’re making progress.” There will be a Domestic Violence Awareness and Outreach Mass on Saturday Oct. 29 at Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral, celebrated by Cardinal-designate Blase Cupich.

“Many times violence in the streets begins at home,” Cardinal-designate Cupich stated on the issue. “Adults and children are traumatized and alienated from the love and support they need by the violence they witness. We must respond to this tragedy.”

Full Article

New Haven, Conn., Oct 24, 2016 / 04:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The battle to free Mosul from the hands of ISIS must be accompanied by concrete efforts to support the groups that have been targeted by the extremist group, said Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus.

“While welcoming the ongoing liberation of the Nineveh plain and Mosul, we must not forget that the genocide begun by ISIS will continue through attrition and neglect unless the United States and international community prioritizes those groups that were targeted for extermination and risk disappearing altogether,” Anderson said in an Oct. 21 statement.

On Oct. 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced a ground offensive to retake Mosul, which has been under the control of the Islamic State since June 2014.

In addition to the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, U.S. troops, British and French Special Forces, and a number of Turkish soldiers are supporting the Iraqi army in the battle, which was initially expected to take between several weeks to several months to complete.

Mosul is the last major stronghold the Islamic State has in Iraq. They have been steadily retreating since the end of last year in battles against Iraqi and Peshmerga forces, as well as airstrikes from the U.S-led coalition.

The United Nations has warned that ISIS is using civilians as human shields in the fight for Mosul, estimating that the militants have so far taken roughly 550 families from smaller towns close to Mosul in an effort to prevent them from leaving the area.

According to CNN, some 285 men and boys have already been used by ISIS as human shields in recent days, and their bodies dumped in a mass grave.

The Knights of Columbus have been heavily involved in supporting persecuted Christians in the Middle East. The Catholic fraternal group successfully advocated for the State Department to recognize the genocide of religious minorities at the hands of ISIS.

In 2014, the Knights established the Christian Refugee Relief Fund, which has raised $10.5 million to provide food, clothing, shelter, education, and medical care to persecuted Christians in the Middle East. They have also encouraged prayer for those facing persecution.

In his statement, Anderson stressed that liberating Mosul and the Nineveh plain are not enough. In addition, aid must be offered to ensure the survival of groups that ISIS had been trying to exterminate.

“This must include direct financial support from our government that actually reaches endangered groups like Christians and Yazidis,” he said. “Those Iraqi citizens who belong to these groups also need to be given equal rights based on the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights.”

“We must also insist that the two-tiered system of rights – resulting in the second class citizenship of Christians and other non-majority religious groups – end if we really want to ensure that such genocide never again occurs in this region,” he continued.

“Celebrations over the ongoing liberation of the historically Christian towns of the Nineveh, should not obscure the fact those minority groups who lived there for generations are now displaced and in danger of disappearing.”

 

Full Article

St. Paul, Minn., Oct 24, 2016 / 05:19 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Personal and student debt can slow down or prevent prospective seminarians and aspirants to religious orders from pursuing their vocations, but one organization with national scope aims to change that.

“The Laboure Society's work is critical because thousands of discerning men and women are seeking to answer the Lord’s call to serve his Church, but they are blocked from entering formation because of outstanding student loan debt,” said Bill LeMire, director of advancement for the Laboure Society. “These are vocations [in] the Catholic Church that we will lose if they are not helped.”

According to LeMire, there are about 4,000 men and women seriously discerning the priesthood or religious life, but they have outstanding student loans.

“Through the Laboure program, five figure debt has been erased in six months, and six figure debt has been eliminated in 12-18 months,” LeMire told CNA. “These timelines would be impossible if the aspirants were trying to raise money on their own.”

Aspirants accepted to the society’s program have an average of about $60,000 in loans. The Laboure Society says it has helped more than 240 men and women enter formation for the priesthood or religious life, raising over $5 million since 2003.

The society works with each aspirant to assure that he or she has used all means to mitigate debt before they are accepted to its program.

They are mentored and trained in ethical fundraising, with the society’s staff providing accountability. They raise funds for every aspirant in their class, not individuals. Once an aspirant is in formation, he or she will receive monthly payments towards his or her financial loans and receive a final payment after three years of service.

If they leave formation, they must resume their own debt payments.

The society aims to help aspirants share their vocation stories to help build “a culture of vocations and evangelization.”

Among the aspirants is Mallory Deschamp, a 22-year-old from Minnesota. She said her twin sister’s discernment of a religious vocation opened her own eyes.

“Jesus gently asked me to devote myself to Him more exclusively to better discern this question, as well as to grow deeper in my love for Him. Throughout this period of discernment, I found myself experiencing profound peace during a time that is often filled with immense stress and anxiety,” she said in Laboure Society materials.

Before she had begun to discern, a seminarian had asked her to learn more about Mother Teresa, now St. Teresa of Calcutta, and the Missionaries of Charity. During her discernment, she visited their communities in Minneapolis, Chicago, and Argentina.

“I hope to help satiate Christ’s thirst through serving Him in the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor; however, I am humbly asking for assistance to make this possible,” said Deschamp, who graduated from the University of St. Thomas with a degree in the biology of global health.

Nicholas Martell, 29, is discerning a vocation to the priesthood for the Diocese of San Bernardino.

He said the coverage of procession of the cardinals for the 2013 papal conclave that would elect Pope Francis particularly affected his vocation.

“At that moment, I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, and that God was telling me that he expected more out of me. He wanted me to give myself entirely to Him, to the service of His Church, and to others,” he said.

Martell, an attorney, still has debt from law school.

Patricia Clark, a 58-year-old research assistant from Michigan, grew up in an Anglo-Catholic Episcopal Church, where she first had thoughts of religious life. She was received into the Catholic Church at the 2010 Easter Vigil, and felt a special call from God during Eucharistic Adoration that autumn.

“I had been attracted to the Carmelite Saints since the beginning of my Catholic journey. It seemed that God had been showing me the way all along and He sent a complete stranger to invite me further down the path He had planned for me.”

When she left a church after time in prayer specifically asking God about his will, a woman followed her and asked if she had ever considered becoming a Carmelite.

A Carmelite prioress later responded to her concerns about her age by reminding her of St. Elizabeth, who conceived St. John the Baptist at an old age.

The Laboure Society was founded by Minnesota businessman Cy Laurent in 2003, and it is based in Eagan, Minn.

Its website is https://labouresociety.org.

Full Article

IMAGE: CNS/Nancy Wiechec

By Nancy Wiechec

GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (CNS) -- Kristen Dragoo came to Grand Teton National Park in 2002 for a college internship and never left.

Armed with a degree in natural resources and environmental management, Dragoo has worked her way up the ladder to become a park ranger, education coordinator and a lead interpreter for the park's Moose district.

Dragoo, her husband and their 2-year-old daughter live in Jackson, an ideal location for their lifestyle. The Catholic wife and mother said her family loves to hike, camp, boat, cross-country ski and watch wildlife.

Catholic News Service spoke with her at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center in Grand Teton in August. (Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and flow.)

Q: What does a ranger interpreter do?

A: We help visitors with what to do while they're here in the park, let them know about the park resources and what makes Grand Teton special. We help them connect with the park on a larger level than they would if they were just on their own.

Q: What do you tell visitors?

A: One of the more important things is helping people understand how to be safe in the park, from letting them know to stay hydrated while hiking to keeping an appropriate distance from wildlife -- at least 100 yards from bears and wolves, 25 yards from all other wildlife. We also tell the park's history, and help visitors understand how wildlife interacts with each other and the plant life.

Q: How did you become interested in being a park ranger?

A: I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. I spent a lot of time outdoors and in nature. That was part of our family life. As I was looking at colleges, I knew I liked teaching, but I also really liked the outdoors and wildlife. I couldn't quite figure out how I could combine those interests. I ended up working for county parks in Ohio doing interpretation and then realized I could get a degree in that and turn this really cool summer job into a career. During college, I came out to Grand Teton to do an internship in interpretation. I came here and basically never left.

Q: What makes this park special?

A. The combination of a lot of amazing things. We've got the amazing scenery, a huge diversity of wildlife and an almost complete ecosystem, which is fairly unique. And the types of recreation here are endless, from hiking and backpacking, to water sports like canoeing, kayaking and rafting. There's horseback riding, and of course, the winter sports -- downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing.

Q: What's the most frequent question visitors ask?

A: At the visitors center, the most common question is, "Where can I see a moose?"

Q: Where can one see a moose?

A: I usually tell people to look near water -- rivers, marshy areas, sometimes lakes. The timing of day is really important. The mornings and evenings give you your best chances for sightings.

Q: How does the National Park Service view stewardship?

A: It means that we're preserving these places and the resources for future generations. It's not just ours to have. It belongs to the young people and people who are not even here yet. It's our job to help take care of these lands so that we can enjoy places like this and we can pass them on.

Q: With that in mind, what can visitors do to help?

A: There are basic things like staying on the trails, keeping your distance from wildlife and keeping food properly stored while in the park. We have grizzly bears and black bears. Making sure that those bears eat only their natural foods and not people food is important for their safety and ours. The other thing people can do is to tell other people about these special places, about their experiences here, and pass on that knowledge.

Q: Do you have a favorite spot in Grand Teton?

A: Gosh, that's kind of hard to answer. There are a lot of very special places. I think that more than a favorite spot, I kind of have a favorite time of day in the park. Even though I'm not really a morning person, I love being out here in the early morning hours. It tends to be a little quieter and there's lots of wildlife activity. The Tetons at sunrise is just such a beautiful thing to see.

Q: Any parting words?

A: Come out to Grand Teton National Park! Places like Grand Teton and Yellowstone are a must-see, even if it's only a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

- - -

Follow Wiechec on Twitter: @nancywiechec.

- - -

Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

Full Article