Catholic News 2
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Justice Antonin Scalia's sudden death a month before his 80th birthday and the potential impasse over replacing him is giving new impetus to an old idea: Limiting the service of Supreme Court justices....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Battling in intense public broadsides, Apple Inc. and the government are making their cases before anyone steps into a courtroom over a judge's order forcing Apple to help the FBI hack into an iPhone in a sensational terrorism case....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- So much for Bernie Sanders' big win in New Hampshire....
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) -- Thrusting himself into the heated American presidential campaign, Pope Francis declared Thursday that Donald Trump is "not Christian" if he wants to address illegal immigration only by building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border....
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 rema...
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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MEDIA CONTACT
Don Clemmer
O: 202-541-3206
WASHINGTON-The Office of General Counsel of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, February 1, on behalf of USCCB, the Texas Catholic Conference and several Christian partners in support of a Texas law mandating health and safety standards protecting women who undergo abortions. Other groups joining the brief include the National Association of Evangelicals, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. The case is Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, currently before the U.S. Supreme Court."There is ample evidence in this case that hospital admitting privileges and ambulatory surgical center requirements protect women's lives and health," said the brief. "When such requirements are not enforced, abuses detrimental to women's lives and health arise."The brief noted that some abortion clinics have decla...
"There is ample evidence in this case that hospital admitting privileges and ambulatory surgical center requirements protect women's lives and health," said the brief. "When such requirements are not enforced, abuses detrimental to women's lives and health arise."
The brief noted that some abortion clinics have declared the standards too strict, although the standards are similar to those issued by the abortion industry. It added that abortion providers "should not be allowed to rely upon their own failure to comply with health and safety laws" as a reason to strike such laws down. The brief said the providers' resistance to such regulations is not in the best interests of women's health and safety. It also noted that over 40 years of precedent, including the Court's 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, reaffirms that states may regulate abortion to protect maternal life and health.
Full text of the brief is available online: www.usccb.org/about/general-counsel/amicus-briefs/upload/Whole-Woman-s-Health-v-Hellerstedt.pdf
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Keywords: General Counsel, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Texas law abortion, amicus curia, National Association of Evangelicals, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, U.S. Supreme Court
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(Vatican Radio) (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’s plane has arrived back in Rome at the end of his 6-day pastoral visit to Mexico. The Pope began his visit in the nation’s capital Mexico City and its surroundings and then travelled to the states of Chiapas and Michoacan before ending his trip in the northern town of Ciudad Juarez where he celebrated a mass on the nation’s border with the USA. Veronica Scarisbrick was in Mexico with Pope Francis and sent us this report on the conclusion of the Pope's visit:Listen to the report: The people of Mexico are certainly not used to wearing their hearts on their sleeves. Or not anyway when it comes to Pope Francis. And as he came to their nation as ‘a messenger of peace’ they opened up their hearts and lifted up their faces towards him.And he was grateful, struck by their love for him, by their joy, by their constant request that he bless them, expressing in private his wonder at t...
(Vatican Radio) (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis’s plane has arrived back in Rome at the end of his 6-day pastoral visit to Mexico. The Pope began his visit in the nation’s capital Mexico City and its surroundings and then travelled to the states of Chiapas and Michoacan before ending his trip in the northern town of Ciudad Juarez where he celebrated a mass on the nation’s border with the USA.
Veronica Scarisbrick was in Mexico with Pope Francis and sent us this report on the conclusion of the Pope's visit:
Listen to the report:
The people of Mexico are certainly not used to wearing their hearts on their sleeves. Or not anyway when it comes to Pope Francis. And as he came to their nation as ‘a messenger of peace’ they opened up their hearts and lifted up their faces towards him.
And he was grateful, struck by their love for him, by their joy, by their constant request that he bless them, expressing in private his wonder at their disinterested affection.
In turn he was giving with the Mexican people. In a special way with those on the margins of society.
In this land of contrasts where religiosity and popular piety run deep and where helpless violence reigns he had come for almost a week to walk ‘through the peripheries with them’, the people of Mexico.
And as he departed he said: “Thank you for having opened the doors of your lives to me, the doors of your nation”.
And then Francis quoted from a poem by Nobel laureate Octavio Paz by the title of ‘Brotherhood’. One where this Mexican poet speaks of the vastness of the night, of how if we look up to the skies: the stars hold a written message, one we too are part of. One which is spelt out for us”.
And Francis commented: ‘I dare to suggest that the one who spells out this message for us and indicates a path for us to follow is the mysterious but real presence of God, in the real flesh of all people especially the poorest and most needy” .
Throughout his six days in Mexico Pope Francis has, as a man of God, during this Year of Mercy, visited places where most people fear to tread. From the sprawling lawless ‘barrio bravo’ of Ecatepec where desperate people alleviate their pain by painting colour on to their miserable homes, to Mexico City’s hospital for gravely sick children, to Chiapas were indigenous people have suffered abuse and to whom he asked forgiveness for the Church’s wrongs of the past, to chillingly drug ridden Michoacán where young people are caught in a web of despair, to Ciudad Juarez where he met with the inmates of a high security prison and with immigrants with their dashed dreams.
But he had a message for the men and women of God in this nation as well. To them he expressed the wish that: “Mexican people might find, reflected in their faces, the Lord, the presence of God”. And on another occasion invited them not to be tempted by resignation in the face of ‘paralyzing injustice”.
And upon his departure Pope Francis said to the people of Mexico, nights here can seem vast and filled with great darkness. Despite this, he added, in many of your faces I have encountered the presence of God.
God who carries on walking in this land, guiding you, sustaining you in hope. Many of you with your daily efforts make it possible for Mexican society not to be shrouded in darkness. You are tomorrow’s prophets; you are the sign of a new dawn.
Pope Francis’ visit here has surely provided Mexicans with a cone of light from the skies in the midst of a sea of darkness.
But like his first words here in Mexico, his last were dedicated to the Mother of the nation, ‘Our Lady of Guadalupe’.
Already upon his arrival in Mexico Pope Francis had quoted ‘Octavio Paz’ who once described Guadalupe, the spiritual heart of the nation, as a place of rest where people orphaned and disinherited, might seek a place of refuge, a home.
And as Pope Francis bade farewell to Mexico he said: ”May Mary, Mother of Guadalupe, continue to walk on your lands, helping you to be missionaries and witnesses of mercy and reconciliation “.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has named Bishop John Douglas Deshotel, as Bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana, and accepted the resignation of Bishop C. Michael Jarrell, from pastoral governance of that diocese. Bishop Deshotel has served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Dallas since 2010.John Douglas Deshotel was born in Kinder, Louisiana, on 6 January 1952. He attended the University of Dallas, where he earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Divinity degrees. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Dallas on 13 May 1978.Assignments after ordination included parochial vicar, St. Patrick Parish, Dallas, 1978-1980; parochial vicar, St. Anthony Parish, Longview, Texas, 1980-1982; parochial vicar, St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish, 1982-1983; parochial vicar, St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Longview, 1983-1988; pastor, St. William Parish, Greenville, Texas, 1988-1992; pastor, St. John Nepomucene Parish, Ennis, Texas, 1992-1995; and pastor, St. Luke Parish, Irving, T...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has named Bishop John Douglas Deshotel, as Bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana, and accepted the resignation of Bishop C. Michael Jarrell, from pastoral governance of that diocese. Bishop Deshotel has served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Dallas since 2010.
John Douglas Deshotel was born in Kinder, Louisiana, on 6 January 1952. He attended the University of Dallas, where he earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Divinity degrees. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Dallas on 13 May 1978.
Assignments after ordination included parochial vicar, St. Patrick Parish, Dallas, 1978-1980; parochial vicar, St. Anthony Parish, Longview, Texas, 1980-1982; parochial vicar, St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish, 1982-1983; parochial vicar, St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Longview, 1983-1988; pastor, St. William Parish, Greenville, Texas, 1988-1992; pastor, St. John Nepomucene Parish, Ennis, Texas, 1992-1995; and pastor, St. Luke Parish, Irving, Texas, 1995-2001.
He also served as vice-rector, Holy Trinity Seminary, Irving, 2001-2005; pastor, St. Monica and St. Juan Diego Parish, Dallas, 2006-2008; pastor, St. Joseph Parish, Richardson, Texas, 2008-2012; and vicar general and moderator of the curia, 2008-present. Other responsibilities include the diocesan presbyteral council, priest's personnel board and diocesan review board. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him an auxiliary bishop of Dallas on March 11, 2010. He was ordained a bishop April 27 of that year.
Charles Michael Jarrell was born May 15, 1940 in Opelousas, Louisiana, and ordained a priest of Lafayette, Louisiana, on June 3, 1967. Pope John Paul II named him bishop of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, on December 29, 1992. He was ordained a bishop March 4, 1993. He has served as bishop of Lafayette since 2002.
The Diocese of Lafayette has a total population of 602,334 people, of who 273,428, or 45 percent, are Catholic.
(Vatican Radio) As per tradition, Pope Francis has sent telegrams to the heads of state of the countries his plane flew over on Thursday, as he returned to Rome from his Apostolic Journey to Mexico.He overflew Mexico, the United States, Portugal, Spain, and Italy, sending each head of state cordial greetings and invoking upon them 'abundant divine blessings'.The full text of the telegrams is below:MEXICOHIS EXCELLENCY ENRIQUE PENA NIETOPRESIDENT OF THE UNITED MEXICAN STATESMEXICO CITYAS I DEPART FROM MEXICO, I EXTEND TO YOU, THE GOVERNMENT AND ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE NATION MY HEARTFELT GRATITUDE FOR YOUR WARM WELCOME AND EVERY KINDNESS SHOWN TO ME DURING MY VISIT. I RENEW TO YOUR EXCELLENCY AND THE ENTIRE COUNTRY THE ASSURANCE OF MY PRAYERS FOR PEACE AND UNITY. &...
(Vatican Radio) As per tradition, Pope Francis has sent telegrams to the heads of state of the countries his plane flew over on Thursday, as he returned to Rome from his Apostolic Journey to Mexico.
He overflew Mexico, the United States, Portugal, Spain, and Italy, sending each head of state cordial greetings and invoking upon them 'abundant divine blessings'.
The full text of the telegrams is below:
MEXICO
HIS EXCELLENCY ENRIQUE PENA NIETO
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED MEXICAN STATES
MEXICO CITY
AS I DEPART FROM MEXICO, I EXTEND TO YOU, THE GOVERNMENT AND ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE NATION MY HEARTFELT GRATITUDE FOR YOUR WARM WELCOME AND EVERY KINDNESS SHOWN TO ME DURING MY VISIT. I RENEW TO YOUR EXCELLENCY AND THE ENTIRE COUNTRY THE ASSURANCE OF MY PRAYERS FOR PEACE AND UNITY.
FRANCIS PP
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
THE HONORABLE BARACK H. OBAMA
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
WASHINGTON
I EXTEND CORDIAL GREETINGS TO YOU AS I FLY OVER THE COUNTRY ON MY WAY HOME FROM MEXICO. RENEWING THE ASSURANCE OF MY PRAYERS FOR YOU AND ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, I INVOKE UPON YOU ABUNDANT DIVINE BLESSINGS.
FRANCIS PP
PORTUGAL
HIS EXCELLENCY ANIBAL CAVACO SILVA
PRESIDENT OF THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC
LISBON
I SEND CORDIAL GREETINGS TO YOUR EXCELLENCY AS I FLY OVER
PORTUGAL ON MY WAY BACK FROM MEXICO. I ASSURE YOU AND ALL THE PEOPLE
OF THE NATION OF A REMEMBRANCE IN MY PRAYERS, AND I INVOKE UPON EACH
OF YOU GOD’S BLESSINGS OF PEACE AND JOY.
FRANCIS PP
SPAIN
HIS MAJESTY FELIPE VI
KING OF SPAIN
ZARZUELA PALACE
MADRID
I SEND CORDIAL GREETINGS TO YOUR MAJESTY AND THE ROYAL FAMILY AS
I FLY OVER SPAIN ON MY WAY BACK FROM MEXICO. I ASSURE YOU AND ALL THE
PEOPLE OF THE NATION OF A REMEMBRANCE IN MY PRAYERS, AND I INVOKE
UPON EACH OF YOU GOD’S BLESSINGS OF PEACE AND JOY.
ITALY
A SUA ECCELLENZA
ON. SERGIO MATTARELLA
PRESIDENTE DELLA REPUBBLICA ITALIANA
PALAZZO DEL QUIRINALE 00187 ROMA
AL RIENTRO DAL VIAGGIO APOSTOLICO IN MESSICO, DOVE HO POTUTO INCONTRARE NUMEROSI FEDELI E RAPPRESENTANTI DI QUELLE CARE POPOLAZIONI AMMIRANDONE LA FEDE E IL DESIDERIO DI CRESCITA SPIRITUALE E SOCIALE, ESPRIMO A LEI, SIGNOR PRESIDENTE, IL MIO CORDIALE SALUTO ED ASSICURO UNA SPECIALE PREGHIERA PER IL BENE, LA SERENITA’ E LA PROSPERITA’ DELLA DILETTA NAZIONE ITALIANA, ALLA QUALE INVIO LA MIA AFFETTUOSA BENEDIZIONE
FRANCISCUS PP.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis will hold his second “Jubilee Audience” in St. Peter’s Square.During the event, the Italian Federation of Blood Donors (FIDAS) will be holding their Jubilee Pilgrimage, with over 25,000 people affiliated with the organization expected to be in attendance.FIDAS is using the occasion to celebrate the success of their efforts since their participation in the 2000 Jubilee with St. John Paul II."Since the Jubilee of 2000, the transfusion system has been profoundly changed, " said Aldo Ozino Caligaris, National President of FIDAS."In the past 15 years, we have increased voluntary participation in blood donation, and Italy has achieved its goal of self-sufficiency,” Caligaris said. “We have also reached our stringent targets in regards to blood quality and safety.”He also said people should consider the self-giving of blood donation during the Jubilee Year.“Those who give blood voluntarily, anonym...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis will hold his second “Jubilee Audience” in St. Peter’s Square.
During the event, the Italian Federation of Blood Donors (FIDAS) will be holding their Jubilee Pilgrimage, with over 25,000 people affiliated with the organization expected to be in attendance.
FIDAS is using the occasion to celebrate the success of their efforts since their participation in the 2000 Jubilee with St. John Paul II.
"Since the Jubilee of 2000, the transfusion system has been profoundly changed, " said Aldo Ozino Caligaris, National President of FIDAS.
"In the past 15 years, we have increased voluntary participation in blood donation, and Italy has achieved its goal of self-sufficiency,” Caligaris said. “We have also reached our stringent targets in regards to blood quality and safety.”
He also said people should consider the self-giving of blood donation during the Jubilee Year.
“Those who give blood voluntarily, anonymously and freely also want to participate in the Jubilee of Mercy, to be present during the celebration of an event important not only in the Christian world, but for all people who work in the name of solidarity,” Caligaris said.
