Catholic News 2
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Letantia Bussell, a Beverly Hills dermatologist, says she appreciates Donald Trump's "unique personality." Peter Zieve, an engineer in Washington, loves Trump because "the guy's a person, not a robot." Daniel Arias, an El Salvadoran immigrant in Florida, is positive Trump will put an end to newcomers "coming here and begging for food stamps."...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon misled Congress with inaccurate and vague information about sexual assault cases that portrayed civilian law enforcement officials as less willing than military commanders to punish sex offenders, an Associated Press investigation found....
PEDERNALES, Ecuador (AP) -- Parts of Ecuador have been devastated by the country's strongest earthquake in decades, as the death toll continues to rise and people left homeless prepare for a second night outside in complete darkness....
MINAMIASO, Japan (AP) -- The U.S. military prepared to join relief efforts Monday in disaster-stricken areas of southern Japan as authorities struggled to feed and care for tens of thousands of people who sought shelter after two powerful earthquakes that killed at least 42 people....
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) -- Brazil's lower house of Congress voted late Sunday to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, delivering a major blow to a long-embattled leader who repeatedly argued that the push against her was a "coup."...
Denver, Colo., Apr 17, 2016 / 02:02 pm (CNA).- Few can forget the media furor over Caitlyn Jenner's cover story in Vanity Fair last year.Formerly known as Bruce, Jenner's public transformation from a decorated male athlete into a glam female persona dominated headlines left and right.Amid scores of adulation for Jenner's bravery – including a coveted ESPN award – one opinion piece in the New York Times broke rank and drew a decent amount of ire.Rather than laud Jenner, writer Elinor Burkett slammed the reduction of female identity into a caricature of pretty dresses and long red nails. As one who lived through the struggles and triumphs of second wave feminism, Burkett witnessed a seismic movement to de-relegate women from the confines of stereotype.Her overall point? You, Bruce, have no idea what it really means to be a woman.And what's more, the transgendered movement runs a dangerous and ironic risk of perpetuating a cultural chauvinism that we'd l...
Denver, Colo., Apr 17, 2016 / 02:02 pm (CNA).- Few can forget the media furor over Caitlyn Jenner's cover story in Vanity Fair last year.
Formerly known as Bruce, Jenner's public transformation from a decorated male athlete into a glam female persona dominated headlines left and right.
Amid scores of adulation for Jenner's bravery – including a coveted ESPN award – one opinion piece in the New York Times broke rank and drew a decent amount of ire.
Rather than laud Jenner, writer Elinor Burkett slammed the reduction of female identity into a caricature of pretty dresses and long red nails. As one who lived through the struggles and triumphs of second wave feminism, Burkett witnessed a seismic movement to de-relegate women from the confines of stereotype.
Her overall point? You, Bruce, have no idea what it really means to be a woman.
And what's more, the transgendered movement runs a dangerous and ironic risk of perpetuating a cultural chauvinism that we'd long hoped to be rid of.
Burkett's evidence of this ranged from the disconcerting to the absurd, citing an example of the controversial “Vagina Monologues” being canceled on a school campus last year. Was the show too risque for the taste of Mount Holyoke College? No. It was axed because the play was too “narrow” in its perspective on what constitutes a woman.
“Let me get this right,” Burkett wrote, “The word 'vagina' is exclusionary and offers an extremely narrow perspective on womanhood, so the 3.5 billion of us who have vaginas, along with the trans people who want them, should describe ours with the politically correct terminology trans activists are pushing on us: 'front hole' or 'internal genitalia'?”
Fast forward to the current uproar over North Carolina's bathroom bill, which would make explicit the requirement that individuals must use bathrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities that correspond with their biological sex, rather than their self-perceived “gender identity.”
Amid the cries of bigotry that ensued, sponsors and celebrities appear to be in a self-conscious race to see who can boycott the state first. There have even been calls to remove gendered bathrooms altogether.
Let's be clear: the concern is real. The transgender community can be victims of brutal violence, often at the hands of heterosexual males. A biological male walking into a men's bathroom dressed as a woman can cause serious, unmerited backlash.
But let's talk about what happens when we, in response to that, say that gendered bathrooms shouldn't exist. The question then becomes: are we fine, then, with violence against women?
The reality is, de-genderizing bathrooms in general poses a tremendous risk to women in the form of sexual assault by men.
A simple thought exercise should suffice here.
Picture any public venue – a concert stadium, an airport – where a group of men, say, slightly intoxicated, find themselves in a gender neutral bathroom with a lone female. That which was a relative rarity could now be a frequent occurrence, simply by virtue of the opportunity presenting itself.
And what about gym showers?
Women carry pepper spray. Women look over their shoulders when walking into a parking lot at night. Women think twice before going on a run after the sun sets. Women take self-defense classes. Women go out in groups. Women understand that assault, rape and even murder are ever-hovering threats.
While a skirted stick figure on a door won't necessarily protect a women from a truly predatory man, it's still a cultural deterrent: someone might see him enter, someone might say something. It's a safe space where women can change their babies’ diapers, reapply their lipstick, buy an emergency tampon, and feel relatively protected.
Even if bathrooms by and large aren't de-genderized, the push for for inclusivity would also end up defending predatory men. Men who could justify, by law, their presence in a woman's bathroom by simply stating that they "identify as female."
As quick as we are to take up arms against what we might perceive to be discrimination against the LGBT community, let’s pause for a minute and think practically of what this means for, as Burkett put it, “the 3.5 billion of us who have vaginas.”
Vatican City, Apr 17, 2016 / 02:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope emeritus Benedict XVI celebrated his 89th birthday on Saturday, and received special greetings from Pope Francis.“I would like to remind you that today is the 89th birthday of Pope Benedict XVI. Pray for him,” Pope Francis said aboard the papal plane April 16.Francis traveled to meet refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos the same day. He also issued a message wishing his birthday greetings“The Holy Father Francis, along with all those who accompany him in his visit to Lesbos--his entourage and journalists--send emeritus Pope Benedict XVI the most affectionate and cordial greetings on the occasion of his 89th birthday, asking the Lord to continue to bless his precious service of closeness and prayer for the whole Church.”Benedict attended a concert with his older brother, 92-year-old Monsignor Georg Ratzinger.The Philharmonic Orchestra of Franciacorta, conducted by Edmondo Mose Savio, peformed three...
Vatican City, Apr 17, 2016 / 02:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope emeritus Benedict XVI celebrated his 89th birthday on Saturday, and received special greetings from Pope Francis.
“I would like to remind you that today is the 89th birthday of Pope Benedict XVI. Pray for him,” Pope Francis said aboard the papal plane April 16.
Francis traveled to meet refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos the same day. He also issued a message wishing his birthday greetings
“The Holy Father Francis, along with all those who accompany him in his visit to Lesbos--his entourage and journalists--send emeritus Pope Benedict XVI the most affectionate and cordial greetings on the occasion of his 89th birthday, asking the Lord to continue to bless his precious service of closeness and prayer for the whole Church.”
Benedict attended a concert with his older brother, 92-year-old Monsignor Georg Ratzinger.
The Philharmonic Orchestra of Franciacorta, conducted by Edmondo Mose Savio, peformed three of the six string quartets that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had dedicated to his friend Franz Joseph Haydn. Mozart is a favorite composer of Benedict XVI.
The concert was held in Assumption Hall of Palazzina Leo XII, the Vatican Foundation Joseph Ratzinger reports.
Benedict XVI resigned from the papacy in February 2013.
Lesbos, Greece, Apr 17, 2016 / 05:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Forced migration affects millions of people and is “a crisis of humanity.” That is what Pope Francis and two leading Greek Orthodox churchmen have said in a joint declaration signed on the Greek island of Lesbos.“Europe today faces one of its most serious humanitarian crises since the end of the Second World War,” the declaration said.Pope Francis, the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, and Orthodox Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens and All Greece signed the declaration April 16. They traveled to the Greek island to meet some of the thousands of refugees and migrants trying to enter Europe.“We urge the international community to make the protection of human lives a priority and, at every level, to support inclusive policies which extend to all religious communities,” they said.“The terrible situation of all those affected by the present humanitarian crisis, including so...
Lesbos, Greece, Apr 17, 2016 / 05:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Forced migration affects millions of people and is “a crisis of humanity.” That is what Pope Francis and two leading Greek Orthodox churchmen have said in a joint declaration signed on the Greek island of Lesbos.
“Europe today faces one of its most serious humanitarian crises since the end of the Second World War,” the declaration said.
Pope Francis, the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, and Orthodox Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens and All Greece signed the declaration April 16. They traveled to the Greek island to meet some of the thousands of refugees and migrants trying to enter Europe.
“We urge the international community to make the protection of human lives a priority and, at every level, to support inclusive policies which extend to all religious communities,” they said.
“The terrible situation of all those affected by the present humanitarian crisis, including so many of our Christian brothers and sisters, calls for our constant prayer.”
They said the meeting is intended to bring courage and hope to those seeking refuge. They appealed to all Christians to follow Jesus Christ’s words in the Gospel of Matthew: “For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me...”
At a Lesbos port, the three religious leaders said prayers and threw laurel wreaths into the sea, where thousands of migrants have lost their lives.
“World opinion cannot ignore the colossal humanitarian crisis created by the spread of violence and armed conflict, the persecution and displacement of religious and ethnic minorities, and the uprooting of families from their homes, in violation of their human dignity and their fundamental human rights and freedoms,” their declaration said.
The declaration said their meeting aimed to demonstrate their “profound concern” at the tragic situation of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers who flee conflict and threats to their own survival. The crisis calls for solidarity, compassion, generosity and “an immediate practical commitment of resources.”
“As leaders of our respective Churches, we are one in our desire for peace and in our readiness to promote the resolution of conflicts through dialogue and reconciliation,” the Pope and the Orthodox leaders said.
They encouraged political leaders to use every means to ensure that individuals and communities, including Christians, “remain in their homelands and enjoy the fundamental right to live in peace and security.”
They called for a broad international consensus to defend the rule of law and fundamental rights, to protect minorities, to develop safe resettlement procedures and to eliminate unsafe routes. They said the Aegean Sea and the entire Mediterranean were among these unsafe routes.
“In this way we will be able to assist those countries directly engaged in meeting the needs of so many of our suffering brothers and sisters,” they said.
Over 150,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Greece by sea so far in 2016. Many of the refugees in Lesbos come from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The declaration declared solidarity with the people of Greece, saying these people have responded to the crisis with generosity despite their own difficulties.
“Together we solemnly plead for an end to war and violence in the Middle East, a just and lasting peace and the honorable return of those forced to abandon their homes,” the declaration continued. “We ask religious communities to increase their efforts to receive, assist and protect refugees of all faiths, and that religious and civil relief services work to coordinate their initiatives.”
Pope Francis and the Orthodox leaders urged an extension of temporary asylum, refugee status for those eligible, and expanded relief efforts.
The declaration voiced resolve to strengthen efforts to promote full Christian unity.
“By defending the fundamental human rights of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants, and the many marginalized people in our societies, we aim to fulfill the Churches’ mission of service to the world,” they said.
Pope Francis returned to Italy with 12 Syrian refugees, six of whom were children. They will be hosted by the Sant’Egido Community.
BOSTON (AP) -- Adrianne Haslet heard all the talk about taking back Boylston Street in the years after the Boston Marathon bombings....
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Walt Disney Co.'s "The Jungle Book" opened with $103.6 million in North America, making it one of the biggest April debuts ever at the box office and continuing the studio's streak of unearthing live-action riches buried in its animated classics....
