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Washington D.C., May 16, 2016 / 04:23 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As an alternative to the “deeply disturbing” new federal guidance on transgender regulations for schools, the U.S. bishops pointed to the words of Pope Francis in offering a positive path to young people.

“The guidance fails to address a number of important concerns and contradicts a basic understanding of human formation so well expressed by Pope Francis: that ‘the young need to be helped to accept their own body as it was created’,” the bishops said, quoting the words of Pope Francis in his 2016 exhortation, “Amoris Laetitia.”

“Children, youth, and parents in these difficult situations deserve compassion, sensitivity, and respect,” the bishops said. “All of these can be expressed without infringing on legitimate concerns about privacy and security on the part of the other young students and parents.”

They said the new federal guidance “does not even attempt to achieve this balance.” It ignores ongoing political and cultural discussion about how to address these sensitive issues and “short-circuits those discussions entirely.”

The U.S. bishops’ May 16 statement was authored by Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, and by Archbishop George Lucas, who chairs the bishops’ Committee on Catholic Education.

The federal guidance from the Department of Justice and Department of Education was announced in a May 13 letter sent to all school districts. The guidance tells every public school in the country to allow students who identify as transgender to use the facilities – including restrooms and locker rooms – that match their “gender identity.”

“A school may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so,” the guidance said. It added “a school must not treat a transgender student differently from the way it treats other students of the same gender identity.”

The guidance may also affect sex-segregated athletics.

Although the federal guidance does not have the force of law, it implicitly threatens schools that do not comply with lawsuits or a loss of federal aid, according to the New York Times.

The guidance cited Title IX civil rights protections and said it intends to provide “a safe and nondiscriminatory environment for all students.” It claimed that federal anti-discrimination provisions exclude discrimination on the basis of a student’s “transgender status.”

Under the guidance, schools must treat a child according to a new gender identity as soon as the child’s parent or legal guardian asserts it. The guidance does not require a medical diagnosis to support the stated gender identity.

For the purpose of Title IX compliance, the federal departments said they “treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex.” The guidance said gender identity is “an individual’s internal sense of gender” that may differ from “the person’s sex assigned at birth.”

But the U.S. bishops cited Pope Francis’ caution that “biological sex and the socio-cultural role of sex (gender) can be distinguished but not separated.”

The federal guidance cited previous Title IX investigations that commit school staff and contractors to “use pronouns and names consistent with a transgender student’s gender identity.”

In addition, the guidance included a 25-page document of “emerging practices” in place around the country, such as privacy curtains or allowing students to change in bathroom stalls.

The U.S. bishops said the Catholic Church “consistently affirms the inherent dignity of each and every human person and advocates for the wellbeing of all people, particularly the most vulnerable.”

“Especially at a young age and in schools, it is important that our children understand the depth of God's love for them and their intrinsic worth and beauty. Children should always be and feel safe and secure and know they are loved,” they continued.

The bishops added that they intended to study the guidance further.

“We pray that the government make room for more just and compassionate approaches and policies in this sensitive area, in order to serve the good of all students and parents, as well as the common good.”

 

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New York City, N.Y., May 16, 2016 / 04:39 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The drug company Pfizer has announced it will no longer sell drugs for use in lethal injections because it objects to their use in executions.

“Pfizer makes its products to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve. Consistent with these values, Pfizer strongly objects to the use of its products as lethal injections for capital punishment,” the company said in an April 2016 policy position paper.

The company is enforcing a distribution restriction for seven drugs that have been a part of lethal injection protocols or have considered for such protocols.

The new policy means there is no remaining open-market source of lethal injection drugs in the U.S., the New York Times reports. Over 20 American and European companies have adopted restrictions on lethal injection drug provision, sometimes as a result of advocacy from death penalty opponents. The European Union has banned the export of the drugs used in lethal injections.

The drugs affected by the Pfizer policy change include pancuronium bromide, potassium chloride, propofol, midazolam, hydromorphone, rocuronium bromide and vecuronium bromide.

“Pfizer offers these products because they save or improve lives, and markets them solely for use as indicated in the product labeling,” the company said.

The drugs will be sold to wholesalers, distributors and direct purchasers on condition that they not resell them to correctional institutions for use in lethal injections. Government purchasers may not provide the drugs to any other party.

The company said it will monitor the distribution of these drugs and act upon any findings of non-compliance.

Drug production bottlenecks as well as opposition from death penalty opponents have limited the availability of lethal injection drugs.

New drug combinations have been faulted for several high-profile botched executions, in which the condemned inmates took a prolonged period to die.

There are 32 U.S. states that allow the death penalty. Some states have adopted the electric chair, firing squad or gas chamber as an alternative to lethal injection.

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Washington D.C., May 16, 2016 / 05:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A significant upgrade to a landmark religious freedom law passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday afternoon.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), the bill’s author, outlined what is at stake abroad for religious freedom in a statement: “The world is experiencing an unprecedented crisis of international religious freedom, a crisis that continues to create millions of victims; a crisis that undermines liberty, prosperity and peace; a crisis that poses a direct challenge to the US interests in the Middle East, Russia, China and sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere.”

The 2015 Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Act passed the House May 16 by unanimous voice vote. It had strong bipartisan support – 116 co-sponsors, including 20 Democrats. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) was the lead co-sponsor.

The bill makes the first big upgrades to the original International Religious Freedom Act passed in 1998, a landmark piece of religious freedom legislation. The 1998 act had created the International Religious Freedom office in the U.S. State Department and also the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan commission that advises the State Department.

Tools for promoting religious freedom, especially in countries that actively persecute religious minorities, were thereby officially inserted into U.S. foreign policy. However, both the willingness of administrations to use these diplomatic tools and the priority they give to promoting religious freedom abroad remain in question.

The new bill adds to the role of religious freedom in diplomacy: the Ambassador at-Large for International Religious Freedom can report directly to the Secretary of State, and religious freedom training for U.S. diplomats is expanded.

The original law had also established the “countries of particular concern” list, which the State Department can use to name the countries where the worst violations of religious freedom are taking place, and gives the U.S. legal authority to take certain actions such as economic sanctions against such countries.

The new bill would add to the CPC list, creating a “tier system” to separate the violators that are nevertheless working with the U.S. to improve religious freedom protections from the violators that are not complying with the U.S.

It also expands executive power to name “non-state actors” as some of the worst violators of religious freedom, like the terror groups Boko Haram and Islamic State, who have been accused by the U.S. of committing genocide against whole religious groups.

The bill also creates a list of the worst individual violators of religious freedom, persons who are sanctioned for their abuses.

“Nearly 20 years ago, led by US Congressman Frank R. Wolf, the Congress had the foresight to make advancing the right to religious freedom a high U.S. foreign policy priority. Today religious freedom is still under attack and we must upgrade our programs and methods to meet the challenges of the 21st century,” Rep. Smith stated.

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Robert M. Longo

By Ed Wilkinson

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (CNS) -- Pope Francis has rebranded the Catholic Church and the papacy, and the media have taken notice.

That was the message delivered by Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, who delivered the keynote address May 11 at the Brooklyn Diocese's observance of World Communications Day.

Sponsored by the DeSales Media Group, the event in downtown Brooklyn drew about 250 people.

Father Rosica, CEO of Canada's Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation and the English-language attache to the Holy See Press Office at the Vatican, was presented with the Brooklyn Diocese's St. Francis DeSales Distinguished Communicator Award by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio.

"Prior to Pope Francis, when many people on the street were asked: 'What is the Catholic Church all about? What does the pope stand for?' The response would often be, 'Catholics, well they are against abortion, gay marriage and birth control. They are known for the sex abuse crisis that has terribly marred and weakened their moral authority and credibility,'" said Father Rosica.

"Today I dare say that the response is somewhat different. What do they say about us now? What do they say about the pope? People are speaking about our leader who is unafraid to confront the sins and evils that have marred us," he continued.

"We have a pope who is concerned about the environment, about mercy, compassion and love, and a deep passion, care and concern for the poor and for displaced peoples roaming the face of this earth," he added. "Pope Francis has won over a great part of the media."

The pontiff "has changed the image of the church so much that prestigious graduate schools of business and management are now using him as a case study in rebranding," the priest added.

While the pope has caused more people to take notice, that doesn't mean that everyone agrees or follows the message he preaches, Father Rosica said.

But he explained that Pope Francis has opened up a dialogue with the world and the Catholic media is a big part of showcasing the work of the Catholic Church.

He referred to Francis' message for World Communications Day to explain how church media should go about its work.

"Our primary task is to uphold the truth with love," he said.

That means that Catholic media should "listen" to, rather than merely "hear," as it engages in dialogue.

It also means that church media should communicate with everyone, without exception.

It further means that "Christians ought to be a constant encouragement to communion and, even in those cases where they must firmly condemn evil, they should never try to rupture relationships and communication."

Father Rosica further added that "political and diplomatic language would do well to be inspired by mercy, which never loses hope."

"May our way of communicating help to overcome the mind-set that neatly separates sinners from the righteous," he said. "We can and we must judge situations of sin ? such as violence, corruption and exploitation ? but we may not judge individuals, since only God can see into the depths of their hearts."

Father Rosica said the work of the Catholic media is to build bridges that encourage encounter and inclusion and to avoid misunderstandings that add to wounds and vengeance.

He urged a prudent use of some of the new social media.

"The character assassination on the Internet by those claiming to be Catholic and Christian has turned it into a graveyard of corpses strewn all around," he said. "Often times the obsessed, scrupulous, self-appointed, nostalgia-hankering virtual guardians of faith or of liturgical practices are very disturbed, broken and angry individuals, who never found a platform or pulpit in real life and so resort to the Internet and become trolling pontiffs and holy executioners! In reality they are deeply troubled, sad and angry people."

He pointed out that Catholic media will be held to accountability and responsibility for creating communion and engaging in a dialogue that is fueled by mercy and understanding.

"The church must shine with the light that lives within itself, it must go out and encounter human beings who -- even though they believe that they do not need to hear a message of salvation -- often find themselves afraid and wounded by life," he said.

"The light of Christ reflected in the church must not become the privilege of only a few elect who float enclosed within a safe harbor or ghetto network of communications for the elite, the clean, the perfect and the saved."

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Wilkinson is editor of The Tablet, newspaper of the Diocese of Brooklyn.

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