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 WASHINGTON-Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York called on everyone "concerned about the tragedy of abortion" to recommit to a "vision of life and love, a vision that excludes no one" on January 14. His statement marks the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Cardinal Dolan chairs the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"Most Americans oppose a policy allowing legal abortion for virtually any reason - though many still do not realize that this is what the Supreme Court gave us," wrote Cardinal Dolan. "Most want to protect unborn children at later stages of pregnancy, to regulate or limit the practice of abortion, and to stop the use of taxpayer dollars for the destruction of unborn children. Yet many who support important goals of the pro-life movement do not identify as 'pro-life,' a fact which should lead us to examine how we present our pro-life vision to others."

"Even as Americans remain troubled by abortion," wrote Cardinal Dolan, a powerful and well-funded lobby holds "that abortion must be celebrated as a positive good for women and society, and those who cannot in conscience provide it are to be condemned for practicing substandard medicine and waging a 'war on women'." He said this trend was seen recently when President Obama and other Democratic leaders prevented passage of the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act, "a modest measure to provide for effective enforcement" of conscience laws.

"While this is disturbing," said Cardinal Dolan, "it is also an opportunity." Pro-life Americans should reach out to "the great majority of Americans" who are "open to hearing a message of reverence for life." He added that "we who present the pro-life message must always strive to be better messengers. A cause that teaches the inexpressibly great value of each and every human being cannot show disdain or disrespect for any fellow human being." He encouraged Catholics to take part, through prayer and action, in the upcoming "9 Days for Life" campaign, January 16-24. More information on the campaign is available online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxJwfcefUiU

He also cited the Year of Mercy called by Pope Francis as a time for women and men to find healing through the Church's Project Rachel post-abortion ministry.

The full text of Cardinal Dolan's message is available online.
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Keywords: Roe v. Wade, anniversary, Pro-Life, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, 9 Days for Life, USCCB, U.S. bishops, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Year of Mercy, Project Rachel, Pope Francis
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Rome, Italy, Mar 6, 2016 / 11:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After a recent attack at a Missionaries of Charity convent in Yemen claimed the lives of four of the sisters there, the bishop overseeing the area said he has no doubt they died as martyrs.

“For me there is no doubt that the sisters have been victims of hatred – hatred against our faith,” Bishop Paul Hinder told CNA March 6.

“The Missionaries of Charity died as martyrs: as martyrs of charity, as martyrs because they witnessed Christ and shared the lot of Jesus on the Cross,” he said, pointing to one of the prayers they recited daily.

The short prayer asks that “Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward.”

Recited after their morning Mass and before breakfast, the prayer is one of the last that the sisters would have prayed before being killed.

Although he doesn't like to speak of reasons “for an unreasonable act,” Bishop Hinder would be difficult not to see that the event was motivated by “a misled religious mind.”

The bishop, who serves as apostolic vicar of the Arabian Peninsula, said that he believes the sisters were a target because certain radical groups in the country “simply do not support the presence of Christians who serve the poorest of the poor.”

While so far no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, it is believed that carried out by members of either Al-Qaeda or ISIS.

He said the attitude obviously goes against the mainstream thought of the Yemen people, the majority of whom appreciate the presence of the Missionaries of Charity as well as their “dedicated service” to the poor.

The bishop reiterated that “there is no reason for such an act unless people, who deliberately or not knowingly, are the devil's agents.”

Bishop Hinder’s comments follow a March 4 attack at a Missionaries of Charity convent and nursing home for the elderly and disabled persons in Aden, the provisional capital of Yemen, which left 16 dead.

Four of the victims were sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, the community founded by Blessed Mother Teresa. They have been identified by the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia as Sr. Anselm from India, Sr. Margherite from Rwanda, Sr. Reginette from Rwanda, and Sr. Judith from Kenya.

Other victims of the attack included volunteers at the home, at least five of whom were Ethiopian. Many were Yemenis. The nursing home had around 80 residents, who were unharmed.

The Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia said the Missionaries of Charity have been present in Yemen since 1973 after the then Government of North Yemen formally invited them to care for the sick and elderly. The home in Aden has been open since 1992.

The attack comes as Yemen is embroiled in a civil war that killed more than 6,000 people, according to the United Nations.

In March 2015 Houthi rebels, who are Shia Muslims, took over portions of Yemen seeking to oust its Sunni-led government.

Saudi Arabia, which borders Yemen's north, has led a coalition backing the government. Both Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have set up strongholds in the country amid the power vacuum.

Bishop Hinder said the attack on the Missionaries of Charity convent is proof that the war rages on, despite all attempts for negotiation.

“There are groups, especially in Aden region, who are not under control of the regular government and try to destabilize the country and to terrorize the people,” he said, noting that the few remaining Catholics will soon “have no other choice than to remain as discreet as possible” and try to wait for peace to be reinstalled.

The bishop said that currently its “impossible” to give an exact number of the Catholics left in Yemen because the war makes it difficult to obtain reliable statistics.

Many of the Catholics who haven’t left the country could be working in hospitals, but are unable able to reach their places of worship, which at present “are working only in a reduced way,” he said.

He blamed this on “the nationwide insecurity,” adding that before the war, he the estimated number of Catholics that he sent to Rome was 4,000 in all of Yemen.

However, Bishop Hinder said that he is sure “that in the meantime the number has essentially dropped.”

Although the effects won’t be seen immediately, the bishop said that both the sisters’ sacrifice as well as our prayers “will work.”

“As Christians we believe that Golgotha is not the end, but the Risen Lord who will have the final word at the last judgment.”

The bishop also said that he currently has no information on the whereabouts of Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil, a Salesian priest from India who had been staying with the sisters since his church was attacked and burned last September, and who has been missing since the Aden attack.

Fr. Uzhunnalil belongs to the Province of the Salesians of Bangalore and has been a missionary in Yemen since 2012, first in Taiz, and later in Aden at a church dedicated to St. Francis.

The Salesians have been present in Yemen for 29 years and are the only Catholic ministers in the country. Fr. Uzhunnalil was the only one left in Aden, and so collaborated closely with the Missionaries of Charity, who are the only religious congregation in the city.

Although the whereabouts of Fr. Uzhunnalil are still unclear, the Secretary of the Province of Bangalore, Fr. Valarkote Matthew, said in a March 6 communique that it seems as if Fr. Uzhunnalil “was taken away.”

However, he stressed that “this still needs to be confirmed. We are trying to ascertain the facts from different sources, but we only know for sure that around half past 8:30 in the morning several members of Al-Qaeda or Daesh (ISIS) broke into the convent.”

In the communique, it was noted that the vicar of the Major Rector of the Salesians, Fr. Francesco Cereda, is in constant contact with local authorities.

“The situation is still uncertain and we are unable to provide more specific details on what might have happened to our brother and where he is right now,” he said, but assured that the “profound and heartfelt prayer” of the community is being offered.

Fr. Cereda expressed his hope that Fr. Uzhunnalil “can be among us quickly and continue the precious service he held at his mission; our remembrance is for the four missionaries of charity.”

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Vatican City, Mar 7, 2016 / 10:57 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis and members of the Curia embarked Sunday on their annual Lenten retreat, which this year centers on the theme: “Le nude domande del vangelo” – “The raw questions of the Gospel.”

The March 6-10 reflections, led by Fr. Ermes Ronchi of the Servants of Mary, are centering on 10 key questions from the Gospel, including: "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?" (Mark 4:40) and “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" (John 8:10).
 
This is the third consecutive year the Pope has chosen to follow the Lenten spiritual exercises in a location outside of Rome, in order to foster the spiritual retreat and to avoid the temptation to continue working.

The five-day spiritual exercises are taking place at the Casa Divin Maestro retreat center in Ariccia, a city located some 16 miles outside of Rome.

The 2015 papal retreat, led by Fr. Bruno Secondin, Carmelite, was on the theme: “Servants and prophets of the living God.”

 

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Vatican City, Mar 7, 2016 / 12:47 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis met with leaders of the Permanent Synod of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) on Saturday, praising their people's “tireless witnesses of hope” in Christ amid decades of hardships.

“In some circumstances, our human condition is made even more fragile due to difficult historical situations, which mark the life of the People of God, of the Community that Jesus Christ our Lord purchased with his blood,” Pope Francis said in his March 5 message to Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, head of the UGCC.

The UGCC is the largest of the Eastern Catholic Churches, with some 4.42 million faithful. Many of its faithful live in Ukraine, though it has large expatriate communities in Argentina, Canada, Brazil,  Poland, and the United States.

The audience coincided with the anniversary of the 1946 pseudo-synod of Lviv, a council orchestrated by Josef Stalin's regime as part of the forcible absorption of the UGCC into the Russian Orthodox Church.

At that time, all of the UGCC bishops, hundreds of clergy, and tens of thousands of Catholics had been imprisoned, while all the Church's property was either transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church or confiscated for non-religious use.

“A particular ideological and political context, as well as the existence of ideas that were contrary to the very existence of your Church, led to the organization of a pseudo-synod in Lviv, and caused decades of suffering for the pastors and the faithful,” the Pope said, remarking on the 70th anniversary of the event.

“In sad memory of these events we bow our heads in deep gratitude before those, who at the cost of suffering and even martyrdom, continued to witness the faith in the course of time and to show dedication to the Church in union with the Successor of Peter.”

At the same time, Pope Francis continues, “with eyes lit by the same faith, we look to the Lord Jesus Christ, to place in him, and not in human justice, all of our hope. He is the true source of our trust in the present and in the future, as we are called to announce the Gospel also in the midst of suffering or difficulties.”

The Pope expressed his deep gratitude for the loyalty of Ukrainian Greek-Catholics and encouraged them to be “tireless witnesses of that hope which makes our existence and the existence of all of our brothers and sisters more luminous”.

Pope Francis also renewed solidarity with the pastors and faithful for all they do in "this difficult time marked by the hardships of war, to alleviate the suffering of the population and to seek the ways of peace for the beloved Ukrainian land.”

“In the Lord is our courage and our joy. It is to him that I speak, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the martyrs of your Church, so that the divine consolation may illuminate your communities in Ukraine and other parts of the world”.

He offered an apostolic blessing as a sign of his "constant affection and prayers" to Archbishop Shevchuk and to the bishops, priests, consecrated, and laity of the UGCC.

The Permanent Synod of the UGCC issued a statement after the meeting with Pope Francis, reiterating their unity with the Bishop of Rome.

“We came to reaffirm our communion with the Holy Father and to ask for his help for the suffering people of Ukraine during the Jubilee Year of Mercy,” said Archbishop Shevchuk in the statement, who added: “And the Holy Father heard us.”

“We reaffirm what no totalitarian regime could break: our communion with Rome and the Universal Church.”

The statement goes on to condemn the violence and atrocities against human dignity which has taken place in Ukraine, especially against religious communities and ethnic groups.

“The Church condemns the atrocities, the kidnappings, imprisonment and torture of citizens of Ukraine in the Donbas and Crimea – especially abuses directed at religious communities and ethnic groups, especially Muslim Tatars, as well as broad violations of civic rights and the human dignity of millions,” according to the message.

The UGCC “ceaselessly prays for and promotes peace,” the statement continues, and calls on the Pope and the global community to “help stop the war and stem the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

10,000 people have been killed, tens of thousands injured, and over 2 million have been left homeless due to the “ongoing undeclared hybrid war,” the statement asserts.  

The crisis has also taken its toll on Ukraine's infrastructure, and its currency has two-thirds of its earlier value, which in turn has impoverished the nation, the UGCC said.

“The people are suffering, Holy Father, and they await your embrace,” Archbishop Shevchuk  is quoted as saying. “Pope Francis made it clear that he would act.”

The statement went on to recall the long-term suffering endured by the people of Ukraine, between “two World Wars, genocides, a state-planned famine, and ethnic cleansing” which claimed the lives of some 15 million people during the twentieth century.

The statement decried the attempts by Stalin's regime to “brutally” suppress the UGCC and to remove it from the “Catholic communion” and the Roman Pontiff, citing the pseudo-synod of Lviv.

Despite the hardships endured by the faithful during that time, “the Church has revived miraculously and is a thriving, dynamic body active throughout Ukraine and on four continents, with young clergy and a dedicated laity inspired by the example of their twentieth century martyrs.”

Archbishop Shevchuk stressed Pope Francis' “moral authority” over the people of Ukraine.

“For Ukrainians who belong to different Churches and religious organizations and even secular citizens, the Holy Father is a global moral authority who speaks the truth,” the archbishop told the Pope.

“This voice of truth is particularly important for the suffering people of Ukraine. If the people do not hear or understand this voice they become confused, anxious, and feel forgotten,” he added.

Archbishop Shevchuk responded to the Pope Francis' emphasis on not solving “ecumenical problems at the expense of an entire Eastern Catholic Church.” He said the UGCC is “ready to provide responsible, transparent, ecumenically sound administration of international aid,” to the Ukrainian population, regardless of “ethnicity, political or linguistic preferences or religious affiliation.”

“Enough of this suffering. It can be prevented. It can be healed. Let us make the 'Year of Mercy' a reality for the people of Ukraine.”

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CHICAGO (CNS) -- Dominican Sister Gabriella Williams in the Diocese of San Bernardino, California, gives her heart and soul to her ministry with migrant field workers, hourly laborers and their families living in trailer parks in California's Coachella Valley.

Sister Rita Schonhoff, a School Sister of Notre Dame, and Dominican Sister Maria Yelitza Ayala live out their religious vocations by serving desperately poor communities in Missouri and Texas, respectively.

Benedictine Sister Kathleen Atkinson from the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota, is the founder and director of Ministry on the Margins, working with prison inmates, former prisoners, the homeless, at-risk youth and others who need to encounter God's love.

These religious sisters and many more around the United States are being highlighted by Chicago-based Catholic Extension as part of National Catholic Sisters Week March 8-14.

The organization is sharing the stories of Catholic sisters who work in the U.S. mission dioceses it supports by sharing their stories online at www.catholicextension.org/catholic-sisters-week-2016 and via social media.

Through the week, daily posts were to be made on Catholic Extension's Facebook page at facebook.com/catholicextension and on Twitter at twitter.com/cathextension using the hashtags #NunsRock and #NCSW2016.

"Two of the most inspirational things I've learned at Catholic Extension are: First, you cannot go to the poorest places in the United States and not find the presence of the Catholic Church," said Father Jack Wall, the organization's president. "And second, the face of ministry in the poorest communities of America is most often a woman religious."

Other stories highlighted come Catholic Extension's U.S.-Latin American Sisters Exchange Program, an initiative that has placed 33 Latin American women religious in dioceses throughout the U.S. to minister to the church's growing Hispanic population.

Catholic Extension, a national fundraising organization, has been supporting the work and ministries of U.S. mission dioceses since it was founded in 1905.

National Catholic Sisters Week, which is supported by a $3.3 million grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, is an annual celebration held in conjunction with National Women's History Month, observed in March. The organization is based at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

"Created to honor women religious, it is a series of events that instruct, enlighten and bring greater focus to the lives of these incredible women," says the "About" section of the organization's website, www.nationalcatholicsistersweek.org. "It's our chance to recognize all they have done for us. It's also our hope that as more young women learn about women religious, more will choose to follow their example."

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