Catholic News 2
BERLIN (AP) -- German officials demanded answers Thursday after a 22-year-old Syrian man suspected of planning an Islamic extremist bombing attack was able to take his own life in his jail cell despite indications he might be a suicide risk....
HAMILTON, Bermuda (AP) -- The British territory of Bermuda hunkered down overnight as Hurricane Nicole rapidly strengthened into a major Category 4 storm and took aim at the tiny island in the northern Atlantic Ocean....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S.-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea Coast early Thursday, officials said, a retaliatory action that followed two incidents this week in which missiles were fired at U.S. Navy ships....
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Already deeply divisive, America's campaign for president is quickly devolving into an ugly fight over who has treated women worse: Donald Trump, whose White House bid is floundering, or former President Bill Clinton, who isn't on the ballot....
Washington D.C., Oct 12, 2016 / 05:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In a leaked email hacked from a private account, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign appears to discuss with a progressive figure whether it is possible to “plant the seeds of the revolution” against the U.S. bishops and their stances.The email exchange, entitled “Catholic Spring,” also suggests that two organizations – Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United – were created for such a purpose.“There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic church,” wrote Sandy Newman, president of progressive organization Voices for Progress, in the first of two emails in the February 2012 exchange.The recipient of the email, John Podesta, is Catholic and a graduate of Georgetown University. He currently...
Washington D.C., Oct 12, 2016 / 05:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In a leaked email hacked from a private account, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign appears to discuss with a progressive figure whether it is possible to “plant the seeds of the revolution” against the U.S. bishops and their stances.
The email exchange, entitled “Catholic Spring,” also suggests that two organizations – Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United – were created for such a purpose.
“There needs to be a Catholic Spring, in which Catholics themselves demand the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic church,” wrote Sandy Newman, president of progressive organization Voices for Progress, in the first of two emails in the February 2012 exchange.
The recipient of the email, John Podesta, is Catholic and a graduate of Georgetown University. He currently serves as the head of Hillary Clinton’s campaign for presidency. Previously, Podesta served as president and CEO of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, and as the chief of staff for President Bill Clinton.
The emails were released by anti-secrecy site Wikileaks as part of an ongoing leak of emails hacked from Podesta’s email account. Podesta has echoed rumors that Russian intelligence officials were responsible for the hack, and has further alleged that some of the emails may not be authentic.
In the exchange between Newman and Podesta, the former began by asking if contraceptive coverage and the then-newly announced HHS mandate could be used as a wedge issue to place between Catholics and the bishops.
The U.S. Bishops’ Conference, numerous Catholic institutions, and other employers of faith have challenged the mandate since its inception in 2011. They have argued that the regulation’s requirement that employers provide and pay for contraceptive and abortion-inducing drugs and procedures violates their deeply-held religious beliefs.
In the email, Newman went on to say, “Of course, this idea may just reveal my total lack of understanding of the Catholic church… Even if the idea isn't crazy, I don't qualify to be involved and I have not thought at all about how one would ‘plant the seeds of the revolution,’ or who would plant them. Just wondering…”
Podesta responded to the inquiry by saying, “We created Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good to organize for a moment like this. But I think it lacks the leadership to do so now. Likewise Catholics United. Like most Spring movements, I think this one will have to be bottom up.”
At the time of these emails, Catholics United was headed by executive director James M. Salt. Salt also serves on the board of directors of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.
In 2012, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good was headed by Alexia Kelley. Since then, she has served as the senior advisor and deputy director in the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, as well as the HHS Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. She currently serves as president and CEO of Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities, a Catholic grant-making organization.
Christopher Hale, the current executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, told CNA that “the emails that were written in 2011… do not reflect the mission of the organization.”
“I’ve think we’ve proven during my time here that we are a strong messenger for the full social magisterium of the Catholic Church. We fought against the HHS mandate, we fought against Planned Parenthood when the tapes were released in 2015. We fought time and again for the dignity of the unborn child.”
“We try our best to challenge both parties to be more consistent in their values so we take pride in getting criticism from both the left and the right,” he said, adding that they have criticized the Democratic party for a “politics of exclusion” particularly on the issue of life. “If our job is to be a front group in for the Democratic party, then we’re doing a pretty terrible job at it.”
“I think John’s email from 2011 doesn’t reflect our work day in and day out.”
Hale acknowledged that in the past, the organization has received funding from philanthropist and liberal activist George Soros, but added that the organization has not received a grant from Soros in 10 years. Hale also noted that the organization has changed its emphasis in recent years, speaking out more against abortion currently than it has in the past.
Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good promotes tenets of the Catholic faith including a respect for life, preferential option for the poor, peace, and stewardship of creation.
During the 2016 election, members of the organization have published numerous prominent articles criticizing Republican candidate Donald Trump and the Republican ticket, and have routinely denounced many of the Trump campaign’s positions.
The group has also criticized Democratic stances on issues such as abortion, however, it generally refrains from directly naming or criticizing Hillary Clinton.
Asked about this imbalance, Hale told CNA that the organization criticizes both parties and campaigns.
“We’re not letting Clinton off the hook,” he stated, adding that the organization has “relationships with both campaigns” and has also brought up their concerns directly to the campaigns.
Catholics in the Alliance for the Common Good is also affiliated with Pennsylvania advocacy organization Keystone Catholics, which was the recipient of a $75,000 grant from the Catholics United Education Fund, dedicated to “pushing forward an LGBT equality agenda within the Catholic Church, in Pennsylvania and throughout the United States.”
Catholics United did not respond to CNA’s request for comment.
In the leaked email, Podesta also suggested Newman consult Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former Lt. Governor of Maryland and daughter of Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy Townsend has also served on the board of the National Catholic Reporter, and gave a 2008 keynote address to the national conference of Call to Action, which dissents from Church teaching on issues of sexuality and women’s ordination. In the speech, she further criticized the bishops' teachings on same-sex “marriage,” stem cell research, abortion, and called the election of President Barack Obama “a wonderful rebuke to the hierarchy.”
Kevin Jones contributed to this report.
Vatican City, Oct 12, 2016 / 09:49 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, is traveling to Fatima, Portugal ahead of Pope Francis’ own visit, which will take place next year for the 100-year anniversary of Mary’s appearance there.Cardinal Parolin’s Oct. 11-13 visit occurs seven months before the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima on May 13, the anniversary of her first appearance.Pope Francis confirmed during an in-flight press conference returning from his trip to Georgia and Azerbaijan earlier this month that he would travel to Fatima on May 13, 2017, but that he did not know whether or not he would go a day earlier on May 12 for the vigil celebration.Cardinal Parolin’s itinerary for the trip included a stop in Lisbon, where he gave a talk on “The Identity of Europe” at a conference at the Catholic University of Portugal, which will mark the 50th anniversary of its founding in 2017.He also visited several churches ...
Vatican City, Oct 12, 2016 / 09:49 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, is traveling to Fatima, Portugal ahead of Pope Francis’ own visit, which will take place next year for the 100-year anniversary of Mary’s appearance there.
Cardinal Parolin’s Oct. 11-13 visit occurs seven months before the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima on May 13, the anniversary of her first appearance.
Pope Francis confirmed during an in-flight press conference returning from his trip to Georgia and Azerbaijan earlier this month that he would travel to Fatima on May 13, 2017, but that he did not know whether or not he would go a day earlier on May 12 for the vigil celebration.
Cardinal Parolin’s itinerary for the trip included a stop in Lisbon, where he gave a talk on “The Identity of Europe” at a conference at the Catholic University of Portugal, which will mark the 50th anniversary of its founding in 2017.
He also visited several churches and had dinner with Cardinal Manuel José Macário do Nascimento Clemente, the Roman Catholic Patriarch of Lisbon.
At Fatima, Cardinal Parolin will participate in an Oct. 12 blessing of the candles and praying the holy rosary at the Little Chapel of Apparitions before processing to the altar to celebrate a candlelit Mass in front of the Basilica of the Holy Rosary.
On Oct. 13, there will again be a procession to the Basilica with Mass and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. It is likely that the Pope’s visit will look similar to Cardinal Parolin’s, although Francis said Oct. 2 he would go to Fatima only.
Three years ago on Oct. 13, 2013, Pope Francis received the statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which usually resides in the Little Chapel of Apparitions. He invited those present at Mass in St. Peter’s Square to meditate on the gaze of Mary.
“O Mary, let us feel your gaze as a Mother,” he said. “Lead us to your Son, as we are not Christians ‘for show,’ but who can ‘get their hands dirty’ to build with your Son, Jesus, his Kingdom of love, joy and peace.”
“How important it is,” the Pope said of Mary’s gaze. “How many things can be said with a look! Affection, encouragement, compassion, love, but also reproach, envy, pride, even hatred.”
“Often,” he added, “the look says more than words, or says what words cannot or dare not say. Who looks at the Virgin Mary? She looks at all of us, each of us…She looks at us like a Mother, with tenderness, with mercy, with love.”
On May 13, 2013, at the Holy Father’s personal request, his pontificate was consecrated to Our Lady of Fatima by Cardinal Jose Polycarp, the then-Patriarch of Lisbon. The consecration took place at the Portuguese shrine dedicated to Our Lady, with thousands of the faithful present.
Addressing Our Lady of Fatima during the ceremony, Cardinal Polycarp asked that Pope Francis be granted the gift of discernment “to know how to identify the paths of renewal for the Church.”
He also prayed that she would “grant him the courage to not falter in following the paths suggested by the Holy Spirit, protect him in the difficult hours of suffering, so that he may overcome, in charity, the trials that the renewal of the Church will bring him.”
HAMILTON, Bermuda (AP) -- Heavy wind and rain began battering Bermuda late Wednesday as the British territory braced itself for Hurricane Nicole, which became a major Category 4 storm as it tracked toward the tiny island in the northern Atlantic Ocean....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two women tell The New York Times that Donald Trump touched them inappropriately - groping a woman in one instance and kissing a woman in another - during separate encounters that took place as long as three decades ago, the newspaper reported Wednesday....
PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) -- Hillary Clinton turned up the heat Wednesday on Republican candidates who are facing both tight election races and tough decisions on what to do about Donald Trump. She's now seeking to spread her new momentum to fellow Democrats on November ballots....
