Catholic News 2

Full Article

Full Article

Sacramento, Calif., Aug 8, 2016 / 06:07 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Religious students from disadvantaged backgrounds could be most affected by a California bill threatening state-backed student grants to schools that disagree with same-sex marriage and gender ideology.

“The students become the greatest victims in all of this. Students growing up in your youth groups may say ‘we want to go to a school that is going to help us learn our faith while earning a degree.’ This bill would not allow that to happen,” said Prof. Kevin Mannoia, chaplain and pastoral ministry professor at Azusa Pacific University.

The proposed bill S.B. 1146 could have grave financial consequences for these students and their desired schools – and even lead to some schools’ closure.

“They wouldn’t be able to choose these schools because they wouldn’t exist,” Mannoia told CNA Aug. 5.

Azusa Pacific University is an interdenominational Christian university in California.

The state legislature there is considering a bill that could require schools to compromise their religious beliefs or face lawsuits and an end to their state grants under the CalGrant program.

The bill uses language that claims it does not prohibit institutions from various actions, but then immediately says that this purported exemption applies only under certain circumstances.

For example, only if institutions provide housing or restroom accommodations for students “consistent with their gender identity” may they reserve housing or restrooms for either male or female students. Institutions may provide separate housing accommodations for married students or students with children only if these accommodations “includes both married opposite-sex and married same-sex couples.”

Moral conduct rules and religious practices may only be enforced if they are “uniformly applicable to all students regardless of the student’s sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Mannoia said he thinks that that the bill has good motives to protect students. But Christian schools are already “deeply committed” to student safety and opposing hostility and discrimination.

“We work very hard at that,” he said.

The schools are also committed to their religious and moral beliefs, he continued, and this commitment is targeted by the bill.

“If a school has such policies that are built on a religious commitment to a lifestyle or a position on marriage or sexual intimacy, then the state could say we are no longer going to provide CalGrants to any institution that discloses this or says they are particularly aligned with that faith system,” Mannoia said.

Required chapel attendance, required courses in religion and the Bible, student admissions or faculty hiring based on religious identity could be targeted by lawsuits under the proposed law, he said.

The legislation would “carve away at the ability of these universities and colleges to operate in a manner that is consistent with their faith values.”

If the schools will not change their beliefs, they will have to refuse to take CalGrants. The grants allow disadvantaged students to access higher education at a college or university of their choice, including schools consistent with their religious beliefs.

About 25 percent students at religious schools are CalGrant recipients. Among these students, about 80 percent come from disadvantaged populations. At some schools, as many as 40-45 percent of the student body is on CalGrants.

Some schools might not be financially sustainable without taking CalGrant students.

“My hunch is that we would probably see a few schools that would have to close in the state of California,” Mannoia said. “Certainly all the faith-based institutions would have to realign their priorities in an effort to replace that money.”

He said that even if the funds were replaced through other means, the more serious issue in the long term is the religious freedom of those institutions to govern and hire in a way consistent with their faith.

This ability “is in jeopardy and becomes exposed to public liability.”

Mannoia said that supporters of the colleges and university should contact the California legislature to object to the bill.

“This is not a time for the Church to become vitriolic or antagonistic. It is not a time to bash any group in our culture at all in an attempt to defeat it,” he said.

“This is a time for Christian higher education, for faith-based institutions, to tell their stories. This is a time for us to frame this around the big issues of religious freedom, choice of students and access of students to higher education.”

 

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Erbil, Iraq, Aug 8, 2016 / 03:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Fr. Roni Salim Momika, one of three priests ordained in an Erbil refugee camp Friday, said the event has turned the dreary mood of displaced Christians into one of joy, which he hopes will give them the strength to stay in their homeland.

“My feeling is happy, happy!” Fr. Momika told CNA after his Aug. 5 ordination, adding that he feels “something inside” that makes him deeply joyful.

He was ordained a priest of the Syriac-Catholic Church alongside his friends and fellow deacons Emad and Petros in the large, prefabricated church inside Erbil’s Aishty 2 camp for the displaced, which is home to some 5,500 people forced to flee their homes due to ISIS.

The ordination, he said, “will give hope to (the people)” in the camp, mostly Syriac Catholics from Qaraqosh, who for two years have been forced to live as refugees.

Fr. Momika, who is from Qaraqosh, noted how Aug. 6 marks the exact two-year anniversary since ISIS attacked his hometown, driving out inhabitants who didn’t meet their demands to convert to Islam, pay a hefty tax or face death.

“We left Qaraqosh during this time two years ago,” he said, explaining that it’s been “a time of challenge” and “a time of sadness” for the Christians.

However, while the anniversary could serve as a reminder of the bleak and uncertain reality for Christians in Iraq, the sight of three young men being ordained to the priesthood has instead made it “a happy time, a hopeful time, and a good time,” Fr. Momika said.

“Before it was a bad day because we became refuges and ISIS entered to Qaraqosh, but now this day became a good day because it’s our ordination and we give hope to our people,” including the hope “to stay here,” he said.

Fr. Momika, Emad, Petros and another seminarian named Paul were all forced to flee Qaraqosh when ISIS attacked in 2014.

Before being forced to leave, Momika and his sister were among the victims wounded in a 2010 bombing of buses transporting mainly Christian college students from the Plains of Nineveh to the University of Mosul, where they were enrolled in classes.

Since the Qaraqosh seminary was closed following the 2014 attack, the then-seminarians were sent to finish their studies at the Al-Sharfa Seminary in Harissa, Lebanon. After completing their studies in Lebanon, they returned to Iraq for their deaconate ordination, which took place March 19.

Since then, Paul decided to serve in Baghdad, and was ordained there roughly 20 days ago, while Fr. Momika and the others were ordained in Erbil.

Archbishop Yohanno Petros Moshe, Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Kirkuk and Kurdistan, the priests’ bishop, was the one who celebrated their ordination Mass in the Aishty camp.

Fr. Momika, whose family fled to Erbil after leaving Qaraqosh, said that while the church only has a capacity of about 800 people, about 1,500 showed up for the ordination.

Several of his family members were able to come for the ordination, including his father, sister and many others who traveled from Baghdad, Aqrah and other cities to be there.

Until now Fr. Momika has worked with the youth and led the women’s groups inside Erbil’s refugee camps. The priest said that for now he will remain in Erbil and continue to serve in that capacity, but it’s up to Archbishop Moshe to decide “if I will stay here or not” in the long run.

As a newly ordained priest surrounded by violent persecution, Fr. Momika said that he wants “to stand with the refugees” despite the “the danger (in their) lives.”

He said he wants to give the Christians “power, hope, and courage to continue their lives and stay with the poor people” and those who are suffering, adding that for him, the essence of his role and vocation is “to give Christ to the people.”

Full Article

IMAGE: CNS photo/www.thesatanictemple.com

By Carol Zimmermann

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- It's 3 p.m. Do you know where your children are?

Parents, schools and school districts are paying even closer attention to after-school activities ever since a group called the Satanic Temple announced in early August that it plans to introduce after-school Satan clubs at some U.S. public elementary schools this year.

Parents across the country, many of whom have yet to purchase their children's necessary school supplies, had to scratch their heads when they heard this one. These clubs certainly don't sound like the typical band, science or Scout groups that typically gather after the bell rings.

And the Satan clubs' planned activities -- focusing on reason and science, according to the website -- also are not nearly as eerie as the group's name implies. That's because Satanic Temple, the political activist and religious group based in New York, is more about bringing attention to what it describes as an unfair after-school playing field than devil worship.

Their name alone has raised some red flags.

The group says it is making a statement showing their opposition to Christian after-school programs around the country called Good News clubs which are sponsored by the Child Evangelism Fellowship. Doug Mesner, co-founder of the Satanic Temple, told The Washington Post that if Christian evangelical groups have a spot in after-school programs, why shouldn't Satanists be able to do the same thing?

But he also has pointed out that the group is not religious in nature and uses Satan more as a mythical symbol.

In 2001, the Supreme Court in Good News Clubs v. Milford Central School, said the clubs, which feature Bible lessons, songs and games, can meet in public schools after school hours on the same terms as other community groups.

Dozens of organizations supported the Good News clubs with "amicus'' or friend-of-the-court briefs including a group of 20 theologians and religion scholars of various denominations and law and philosophy professors from the University of Notre Dame.

"I don't think the Satan club is interested in getting into the after-school business. They know the only way to make their point is to call the court's bluff, saying what's good for the Good News clubs is good for us," said Charles Haynes, director of the Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum Institute in Washington.

Haynes said the Satanic Temple failed to make its point through litigation so it is trying another avenue to raise awareness. Its request to meet for public school access in a letter to a number of school districts -- near Satanic Temple chapters and schools where Good News clubs exist -- is carefully written, Haynes said, adding that on face value it would likely be acceptable. The "only thing objectionable to some is the name," he said.

The group has asked for permission to meet in school districts in the following states: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon and Utah. The requests are still under review.

But even if school districts provide meeting space for these clubs, Haynes is confident they will not take over the afternoon activities world.

"How many parents are going to sign a permission slip for a second-grader to go to a Satan club after school?" he asked, pointing out that the required permission slip of elementary school group activities provides a filter.

But he also noted that even if the group doesn't attract many members, it will still draw attention -- even more than it already has -- because all groups have to be treated the same and each can send out fliers announcing their programs.

As he sees it, the discussion about Satan clubs provides a teachable moment for school districts and the nation.

"Many Americans are in favor of religious freedom until it's tested and then they are not sure they like it," he told Catholic News Service Aug. 4. He noted that the proposed group is "tongue in cheek on one hand but it is deeply serious on the Constitution side."

Haynes said the key issue -- providing an equal playing field for all religious and nonreligious groups -- is a tricky balance to achieve and must constantly be re-evaluated.

He said some school districts will likely grant the Satan clubs access for after-school meetings and others won't but if they don't they will have to stop other groups from meeting on school property after hours also.

Jordan Lorence, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, who helped litigate the Good News Club case before the Supreme Court said in the online magazine The Federalist, that the Satanic Temple, with pushing its group's inclusion, is missing the big picture. Many student groups, religious and non-religious, meet in public schools, so students learn to tolerate fellow classmates who do not share their beliefs, he said.

Lorence also said Satan clubs have the right to "espouse their views" but he did not think the group's leaders were showing "respect for First Amendment traditions or for the dignity of other people to advocate views that differ from theirs."

Instead, he wrote: "What I see is a snarky disdain for anyone who believes in religion, demonstrated in part by the use of 'Satan' in their organization's name to evoke responses that have nothing to do with their beliefs."

These clubs "have the right to meet in public schools but only on the same terms and conditions as everyone else," he said, adding that the group's leaders should "abandon their condescending attitudes toward fellow citizens with religious beliefs and join with us to protect the dignity of all people to exercise their freedom of speech."

- - -

Follow Zimmermann on Twitter: @carolmaczim.

- - -

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

By Michael Kelly

DUBLIN (CNS) -- Bishop Edward Daly of Derry, known for his tireless advocacy for peace and reconciliation during decades of sectarian tension in Northern Ireland, died in a hospital in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, Aug. 8.

Bishop Daly, who retired in 1993 due to ill health after suffering a stroke, was 82. He had suffered from cancer.

He first came to prominence in a photograph from Bloody Sunday in 1972, when 14 civil rights protesters were shot dead by the British army in Londonderry. For decades, the victims were accused of being terrorists. However, in 2010, an independent inquiry ruled that all the victims and the injured, had been unarmed and that those killed had been killed unlawfully.

Bishop Daly worked tirelessly with the families to clear their names and ensure that an independent inquiry would overturn the allegations that they were terrorists.

Irish President Michael D. Higgins expressed "great sadness" at news of Bishop Daly's death.

"Edward Daly will be remembered by many for his peaceful, compassionate, humanitarian and courageous actions during the appalling events of Bloody Sunday," he said. "This was but one part of the great contribution that was his life of service to the citizens of Derry, including as it did his leadership in the tasks of regeneration and his work with the hospice movement in the later part of his life."

After Bishop Daly was named to the Diocese of Derry in 1974, he campaigned for the British authorities to build houses for the Catholic community and frequently denounced injustices suffered by Catholics at the hands of the authorities. At the same time, he denounced paramilitary violence aimed at British troops and the police in Northern Ireland.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said Bishop Daly's bravery was "apparent in his lived conviction that violence from any side during the Troubles was futile and could never be morally justified.

"He was courageous in speaking out against injustice and took many personal risks for peace and reconciliation," Archbishop Martin recalled.

Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry said his predecessor "served, without any concern for himself, throughout the traumatic years of the Troubles, finding his ministry shaped by the experience of witnessing violence and its effects; through this dreadful period he always strove to preach the Gospel of the peace of Christ."

"Bishop Daly provided an example of priestly ministry which was exemplary, inspired by service of God and the people he encountered," Bishop McKeown said.

At a national level, Bishop Daly was a key member of the Irish bishops' conference and served as its spokesman for many years. In 1975 he established the first Catholic Communications Office. He also helped organize the 1979 papal visit of St. John Paul II.

Pastorally, he took a particular interest in the welfare of prisoners and their families and was a frequent visitor to jails.

Archbishop Martin said that as a "gifted spiritual leader and communicator, his words touched the hearts of many people, but his ministry was not confined to preaching. He walked with his people in their struggles and joys and was most at home out in the streets, parishes and communities of his diocese.

"Bishop Edward will be remembered as a fearless peacebuilder," the archbishop said.

In retirement, Bishop Daly continued to work, ministering in the Foyle Hospice, where he served as chaplain until 2015.

He also published two books of memoirs. He provoked debate in 2011 when he wrote in his latter volume of memoirs that "there will always be a place in the church for a celibate priesthood, but there should also be a place for a married priesthood in the church."

- - -

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

Full Article