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While drawing attention to the situation of seafarers whose difficulties and hardships are hardly on the media, Japan’s Catholic bishops are also urging the faithful to help protect the seas.  In a message entitled “On the Same Ship — with Our Father’s Mercy” on the occasion of this year’s Sea Sunday, July 10,  Bishop Michael Goro Matsuura of Nagoya, Chairperson of the Catholic Commission of Japan for Migrants, Refugees and People on the Move,  noted that the difficulties that people working on the sea face are not natural threats alone. “Although the sea is becoming even more dangerous because of nuclear test sites and dumping-of radioactive and other waste, most of such cases are hidden without being reported by the media.”  “Seafarers and other people living with the sea, as well as all marine species are threatened and damaged by such human activities,” he observed.    Describing the sea as a marvelous gift of God’s creation, Bishop Matsuura, “we must not contaminate the sea for the sake of human ego.”  He argued that “all of us receive our daily bread from the sea through people working on the sea.”  “Since we are all on board the same ship, we should pay equal attention to workers regardless of whether they are on the ground or the sea, and support each other.”  Bishop Matsuura concluded urging prayers for seafarers and their families.  (Source: CBCJ)

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The spiritual head of the Church of England will house a family of Syrian refugees in a cottage at his ‎official London residence, Lambeth Palace, from next month, a local councillor said on Wednesday. ‎Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the world's 85 million-strong Anglican ‎communion, pledged last September to personally take in refugees from Syria, with the gesture ‎following a similar move by Pope Francis in the Vatican.   More than 250,000 people have been killed in Syria's five-year ‎war, with half of the population forced from their homes leaving 6.6 million displaced inside the ‎country and another 4.8 million fleeing, many seeking refuge in Europe. ‎

Lambeth Council's deputy leader Paul McGlone said the family is due to arrive at Lambeth Palace on ‎the banks of the River Thames next month.  "We have ... worked with the Home Office and Lambeth ‎Palace to support the Archbishop's undertaking to house a family within the grounds of Lambeth ‎Palace," the Lambeth Council press office quoted McGlone as telling fellow councillors.   (Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation)

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Some 150 young Catholics from across India are travelling this week to the international celebration of the Catholic Church’s World Youth Day in Poland to join over a million of their counterparts from around the globe where they hope to deepen their faith and share their Indian Christian life.  "We will be meeting church officials and youth from different parts of the world," Shradha Kujur, who is part of the 151-member delegation, told UCANEWS.  Kujur said that the five-day cultural exchange program before the July 25-31 event in Krakow would help "broaden my horizons and learn about other cultures and rituals."   Pope Francis is also travelling to Krakow to participate in the meet July 27-31.

The youth will stay with Polish host families during the celebration and hope to promote Indian Christianity and culture to the global audience.  The 151-member Indian delegation come via the Youth Council of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India and consists of 100 youths, 50 coordinators and a bishop. They have been selected from different parishes across the country.

In April, the Polish embassy in New Delhi announced waiver of visa fees for Indian Catholics attending World Youth Day.  Saint Pope John Paul II initiated the World Youth Day gathering in 1985.

Monika Chylaszek, a spokesman for Krakow city hall, told AFP, "about 600,000 people have already registered, but we expect many more to show up in Krakow at the last minute, so all in all we expect up to 1.5 million people." World Youth Day is marked annually at the diocesan level worldwide on Palm Sunday, but is celebrated internationally every 3 years or so at a venue chosen by the Pope.   (Source: UCAN…)

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Austin, Texas, Jul 8, 2016 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After the Supreme Court recently struck down the state’s abortion clinic restriction law, Texas governor Gregg Abbott plans to require aborted fetuses to be buried or cremated starting in September.

The announcement comes just one week after the court overturned what was arguably the most restrictive legislation on abortion clinics in the nation.

In a 5-3 decision, SCOTUS ruled the law regulating the safety of abortion clinics put an undue burden on a women’s right to abortion. The law said abortionists must have admitting privileges at a local hospital in case of medical emergency, and clinic buildings must meet the standards of ambulatory surgery centers.  

Abortion supporters argued that the laws were not essential for medical safety and were ultimately intended to shut clinics down. Now, Republican Governor Gregg Abbott is taking action.

The Associated Press reported that Governor Abbott ordered state health officials to add the new abortion regulations.

Spokeswoman Ciara Matthews said Abbott had been talking with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission for months about the change, not waiting for lawmakers to write a bill.

A proposal of the commission’s rules, issued on July 1, listed what would be the state’s new regulations. Fetal tissue “regardless of the period of gestation” would need to be disposed of by cremation, burial, incineration followed by burial, or steam disinfection followed by burial.

As of now, remains can be disposed of through incineration or disinfection and then discharged into a landfill, disposed of into sewer systems, or any other “approved alternate treatment process, provided that the process renders the item as unrecognizable, followed by deposition in a sanitary landfill.”  

Matthews said Abbott hopes the Legislature will “enshrine” the rules into law next year even though state agencies in Texas do not need legislative approval to enact certain rules, according to the AP.

The proposed rule is open to public comment for 30 days. After, hearings may be held and the final decision will be instituted in September.  

Other states, such as Ohio, also require aborted fetuses to be disposed of in a “humane” manner, the AP noted. The state failed to define the word ‘humane’ and in June, paid Planned Parenthood more than $45,000 in legal bills due to accusations by the organization that the state changed the interpretation of the rule and unfairly targeted the organization.

Photo credit: www.shutterstock.com.

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By Tom Tracy

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CNS) -- As the church in the U.S. has shown an increasing presence of Spanish-speaking Catholics, so will the tens of thousands of young people traveling to 2016 edition of World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland.

"There are more groups coming from heavily Hispanic/Latino dioceses, and in a particular way from apostolic movements like Charismatic Renewal, Focolare, and others," said Paul Jarzembowski, World Youth Day USA national coordinator for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

World Youth Day will take place in and around Krakow July 26-31, with Pope Francis leading events July 27-31, including a closing overnight vigil and Mass that is expected to draw as many as 2 million attendees from around the world.

From the U.S., there are more than 30,000 fully registered pilgrims and another 10,000 partially registered pilgrims, which indicates at least some of those may translate into last-minute travelers to Poland.

The USCCB, Jarzembowski told Catholic News Service, has been working collaboratively on some of its Spanish language World Youth Day resources -- including the WYDUSA pilgrim prayer, the stateside leader's guide, the WYD hymn -- and through organizations such as the National Catholic Network de Pastoral Juvenil Hispana and the Southeast Pastoral Institute in Miami, both of which are also sending delegations of Hispanic/Latino pilgrims to Krakow.

"We do not have an exact number of Hispanics going from the USA, but by the increased number of groups from movements, Pastoral Juvenil outreaches, and heavily Hispanic areas, we feel this (increase) is happening," Jarzembowski said.

Mark Gomez, 20, a member of Immaculate Conception Parish in Hialeah, a largely Cuban and Hispanic city in Florida, is a leader of Encuentros Juveniles, a local lay organization for youths and young adults.

"I think (Pope Francis) is by far a great example of humility and love and a Christ-like figure," he told CNS.

Gomez, who saw Pope Francis up close during the U.S. papal visit to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families, plans to attend World Youth Day in Poland with his parents and two brothers, all of whom will experience the event together for the first time.

The most recent international World Youth Day, in 2013, took place in Rio de Janeiro, just a few months after Pope Francis' election. Poland and its historic city of Krakow are hosting this year's event that Polish St. John Paul II initiated as a Vatican-sponsored tradition in the late 1980s.

"Pope Francis knows the church has a need, and in a time when you see broken families, drugs, crime -- the world needs to know there is something more," said Gomez, who studies politics and international studies at the University of Miami.

Reflecting another trend, while the general range for World Youth Day pilgrims is about 16-35, many diocesan delegations to Poland are comprised primarily of young adults over the age of 18, mostly in their 20s and older, according to Jarzembowski.

"WYD does not provide exact numbers, but by the communication we have had with diocesan leaders and bishops we have learned about the increased number of young adults," Jarzembowski said. "In our dialogue with the international organizers, we learned that there is an increased amount of pilgrims over age 30 this year."

The U.S. participants will travel from every state and from more than 1,000 dioceses, parishes and apostolic movements. Also registered are some 85 U.S. bishops who will be among an expected 800-1,200 cardinals and bishops and 13,000 priests worldwide who are set to travel to Krakow.

Jarzembowski noted this year's pilgrims continue to come from several large metropolitan areas -- including New York, Chicago, Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth, Seattle, Portland, and Miami -- along with rural areas in Wyoming, Texas, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, upstate New York and throughout the Midwest. Participants represent a good cross-section of U.S. Catholics who are moderately to highly involved in church life at home, he added.

A considerable emphasis is also being placed on engaging youth and young adults who will attend various stateside World Youth Day celebrations as well as maximizing the experience after the delegations return from Poland, Jarzembowski said.

"The USCCB has developed tools to help leaders accompany their pilgrims 'down the mountain' from World Youth Day and help them to put what they learned and were inspired to do into real action ... through the follow-up and aftereffects," Jarzembowski said.

"This has been a dream of St. John Paul II, and Popes Benedict and Francis after him: that World Youth Day does not end at the closing Mass, but becomes a catalyst for building up missionary disciples and agents of mercy and faith in the everyday lives of young adults today."

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Ralph Lauer, EPA

By David Sedeno

DALLAS (CNS) -- Five Dallas law enforcement officers were assassinated July 7 as at least one sniper opened fire in downtown Dallas as hundreds of demonstrators were winding down a march protesting recent fatal officer-involved shootings in other parts of the country.

The suspected sniper -- who had held dozens of SWAT officers at bay for several hours by saying that there were bombs planted around the area, that "the end was coming" and that he would take down more officers -- was killed overnight when police sent a robot toward him and detonated an explosive device attached to the robot.

Neither the dead suspect, nor three others arrested shortly after the shootings, would be identified because police said they were continuing their investigation.

The five officers -- four from the Dallas Police Department and one from the Dallas Area Rapid Transit -- were shot around 9 p.m. local time by snipers who targeted law enforcement officials from a parking garage. The five dead were among 12 officers and two civilians wounded.

The attack was the worst loss of U.S. law enforcement since 9/11.

"We are hurting," Dallas Police Chief David Brown said. "Our profession is hurting. Dallas officers are hurting. We are heartbroken. There are no words to describe the atrocity that occurred to our city. All I know is that this must stop -- this divisiveness between our police and our citizens."

He did not identify the Dallas police officers killed or wounded, although he did say that some of the injured officers had been released from the hospital and some would need follow-up care. DART officials identified their officer as Brent Thompson, 43, who had been on the force since 2009, and said that he had gotten married only two weeks ago.

Dallas Bishop Kevin J. Farrell, who has blogged in the past several months about the escalating gun violence across the country and world, reiterated his call for prayer and peace after the Dallas attack.

"Our first concern is for the families who have lost loved ones in this tragic attack," he said. "We pray for consolation and healing for both the families and those killed and wounded. We are reminded of the ever-present danger to those who are dedicated to protecting us.

"We have been swept up in the escalating cycle of violence that has now touched us intimately as it has others throughout our country and the world," he said. "All lives matter: black, white, Muslim, Christian, Hindu. We are all children of God, and all human life is precious.

"We cannot lose respect for each other and we call upon all of our civic leaders to speak to one another and work together to come to a sensible resolution to this escalating violence," he said. "Let us implore God our heavenly father to touch the minds and hearts of all people to work together for peace and understanding."

The bishop was scheduled to offer a special prayer at an ecumenical gathering at midday July 8 at Thanksgiving Square in downtown Dallas and was scheduled to celebrate a Mass for healing at the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe on July 9.

The march on June 7 was organized to show support for families of two men killed earlier in the week in officer-related shootings in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and in a suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

In Baton Rouge, Alton Sterling, 37, was killed July 5 by police during an altercation outside a convenience store after witnesses said that he had a gun. In Minneapolis, Philando Castile was fatally shot after a traffic stop on July 6.

More than 1,000 people walked through the western part of the downtown Dallas area for a march and rally and as the event was winding down, gunfire erupted shortly before 9 p.m.

Social media posts and live televised images showed the sniper opening fire on police, who returned fire, and of police running toward the sounds of gunfire and of people running from the gunfire. Police kept pushing people away from the area after the suspect was cornered in the second-floor garage of El Centro, a community college housed in a multistory downtown building.

As information rolled in throughout the evening, the number of officers wounded and dead climbed and Chief Brown alluded during an overnight news conference that negotiations with the holed-up suspect were not going well and that officers would do everything necessary to keep Dallas citizens safe.

"He was upset about 'Black Lives Matter,'" Brown said. "He was upset about the recent police shootings. He was upset at white people. Stated he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.

"He said that we will eventually find the IEDs," the chief said. "The suspect stated that he was not affiliated with any groups and that he did this alone."

Brown said that the investigation and search for any others suspects would continue. A six-block by three-block section in the western end of downtown Dallas, coincidentally near Dealey Plaza where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated Nov. 22, 1963, was closed July 7 as police continued their investigation.

The attack on the police was second in as many years. In June 2015, James Boulware shot up police headquarters from an armored van, then led police on a high-speed chase before being killed by police after a stand-off.

Mayor Mike Rawlings, who appeared with the police chief during the various news conferences, said that police need support now more than ever.

The police chief said that he was proud of the officers who continually give of themselves to protect people every day.

"We believe in the right to protest peacefully and these were peaceful protests until this happened," Chief Brown said. "We also believe in keeping our officers safe.

"We are not going to let a coward who would ambush police officers change our democracy, our city. Our country is better than that."

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Sedeno is executive editor of The Texas Catholic and Revista Catolica, the English- and Spanish-language newspapers of the Dallas Diocese.

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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.

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