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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) -- With the score tied in the fourth quarter, Odell Beckham Jr. somehow slipped 5 yards behind the secondary....
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Pope Francis' comments that human activity is mostly to blame for global warming top a list of the most notable quotes of 2015, as compiled by a Yale Law School librarian who also included several sound bites from the U.S. presidential campaign....
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The reaction was strong to "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" at the film's world premiere in Hollywood....
NEW YORK (AP) -- While big-city jails get most of the attention, lockups in small and medium-sized counties have actually driven the overall explosion in the U.S. inmate population, according to a new analysis of 45 years of jail statistics....
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Jurors wrestled over what "evil motive" means Monday as they deliberated the fate of the first of six officers to be tried in the death of Freddie Gray, a black man whose neck was broken in a police van, fueling the "Black Lives Matter" movement....
BAGHDAD (AP) -- For nearly three months, anesthesiologist Bashar Taha lived in fear of deadly retaliation....
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that 34 nations have agreed to form a new "Islamic military alliance" to fight terrorism with a joint operations center based in the kingdom's capital, Riyadh....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Texas Sen. Ted Cruz enters Tuesday's Republican presidential debate with a burst of momentum, a robust campaign infrastructure, and a target on his back....
 WASHINGTON- The United States has a moral obligation to protect unaccompanied children and families from persecution in Central America, said Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, October 21. Bishop Seitz is an advisor to the USCCB Committee on Migration and a member of the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC).The humanitarian outflow, driven by organized crime in the northern triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, continues, with nearly 40,000 unaccompanied children and an equal number of mothers with children having arrived in the United States in Fiscal Year 2015."If we do not respond justly and humanely to this challenge in our own backyard, then we will relinquish our moral leadership and moral influence globally," Bishop Seitz said.Bishop Seitz pointed to the human consequences of U.S. policies which are designed to deter migration from the region, i...
 WASHINGTON- The United States has a moral obligation to protect unaccompanied children and families from persecution in Central America, said Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, October 21. Bishop Seitz is an advisor to the USCCB Committee on Migration and a member of the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC).
The humanitarian outflow, driven by organized crime in the northern triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, continues, with nearly 40,000 unaccompanied children and an equal number of mothers with children having arrived in the United States in Fiscal Year 2015.
"If we do not respond justly and humanely to this challenge in our own backyard, then we will relinquish our moral leadership and moral influence globally," Bishop Seitz said.
Bishop Seitz pointed to the human consequences of U.S. policies which are designed to deter migration from the region, including U.S. support for Mexican interdiction efforts which are intercepting children and families in Mexico and sending them back to danger, in violation of international law.
Bishop Seitz recommended an end to these interdictions and the introduction of a regional system which would screen children and families for asylum in Mexico and other parts of the region. He also called for Congress to approve and increase a $1 billion aid package proposed by the Administration.
"If we export enforcement," Bishop Seitz said, "we also must export protection."
Bishop Seitz recalled the words of Pope Francis before Congress in September, when he invoked the golden rule in guiding our nation's actions toward those seeking safety in our land.
Quoting the Holy Father, Bishop Seitz repeated to the committee, "'The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us.'"
"Mr. Chairman, I pray that time, and history, will conclude that we honored this rule in meeting this humanitarian challenge," Bishop Seitz concluded.
Bishop Seitz' testimony can be found at http://www.usccb.org//about/migration-policy/congressional-testimony/upload/seitz-ongoing-migration.pdf
Keywords: Bishop Mark J. Seitz, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Congress, Senate, Committee on Migration, migration, unaccompanied children, violence, Pope Francis
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Jerusalem, Israel, Dec 14, 2015 / 07:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A recent statement from Orthodox rabbis calls for “fraternal partnership” between Christians and Jews, reflecting on their commonalities and on recent efforts by Catholics to improve relations with Jews. “We Jews and Christians have more in common than what divides us: the ethical monotheism of Abraham; the relationship with the One Creator of Heaven and Earth, Who loves and cares for all of us; Jewish Sacred Scriptures; a belief in a binding tradition; and the values of life, family, compassionate righteousness, justice, inalienable freedom, universal love and ultimate world peace,” the statement said. The statement did not minimize ongoing differences, but it said Jews and Christians must offer “models of service, unconditional love and holiness.” The Dec. 3 statement, titled “To Do the Will of Our Father in Heaven: Toward a Partnership between Jews and Christians,” was ...
Jerusalem, Israel, Dec 14, 2015 / 07:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A recent statement from Orthodox rabbis calls for “fraternal partnership” between Christians and Jews, reflecting on their commonalities and on recent efforts by Catholics to improve relations with Jews.
“We Jews and Christians have more in common than what divides us: the ethical monotheism of Abraham; the relationship with the One Creator of Heaven and Earth, Who loves and cares for all of us; Jewish Sacred Scriptures; a belief in a binding tradition; and the values of life, family, compassionate righteousness, justice, inalienable freedom, universal love and ultimate world peace,” the statement said.
The statement did not minimize ongoing differences, but it said Jews and Christians must offer “models of service, unconditional love and holiness.”
The Dec. 3 statement, titled “To Do the Will of Our Father in Heaven: Toward a Partnership between Jews and Christians,” was signed by more than 25 prominent Orthodox rabbis from Israel, the U.S., and Europe, and its authors have invited other Orthodox rabbis to sign it.
“Jews and Christians must be in the forefront of teaching basic moral values to the world,” said Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, a member of the Israeli Rabbinate. He underlined the importance of the statement’s call for “fraternal partnership between Jewish and Christian religious leaders” while also “acknowledging the positive theological status of the Christian faith.”
The statement cited Jewish scholars such as Maimonides and Yehudah Halevi and acknowledged Christianity as “neither an accident nor an error, but the willed divine outcome and gift to the nations.”
“In separating Judaism and Christianity, G-d willed a separation between partners with significant theological differences, not a separation between enemies,” it said.
Jesus “strengthened the Torah majestically” and spoke emphatically about its immutability, the rabbis said. According to the statement, Jesus removed idols from the nations, obligated the nations to follow the seven commandments of Noah, and “instilled them firmly with moral traits.”
“Christians are congregations that work for the sake of heaven who are destined to endure, whose intent is for the sake of heaven and whose reward will not denied,” the statement said, citing Rabbi Jacob Emden. The statement acknowledged Christian acceptance of the Old Testament and of divine providence.
“Both Jews and Christians have a common covenantal mission to perfect the world under the sovereignty of the Almighty, so that all humanity will call on His name and abominations will be removed from the earth,” it continued.
“Now that the Catholic Church has acknowledged the eternal Covenant between G-d and Israel, we Jews can acknowledge the ongoing constructive validity of Christianity as our partner in world redemption, without any fear that this will be exploited for missionary purposes.”
Rabbi Irving Greenberg, an Orthodox theologian, said there is room in traditional Judaism “to see Christianity as part of God’s covenantal plan for humanity, as a development out of Judaism that was willed by God.”
The Jerusalem-based Rabbi David Rosen, international director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee, said Christians and Jews “need to work together to meet our common challenges: the assault of radical secularism, religious extremism and moral relativism on the heritage and dignity of humankind.”
The rabbis’ statement said the end of the Holocaust 70 years ago was “the warped climax to centuries of disrespect, oppression and rejection of Jews and the consequent enmity that developed between Jews and Christians.”
“In retrospect it is clear that the failure to break through this contempt and engage in constructive dialogue for the good of humankind weakened resistance to evil forces of anti-Semitism that engulfed the world in murder and genocide,” the statement continued.
In the rabbis’ understanding, the Second Vatican Council declaration Nostra aetate started the process of Jewish-Christian reconciliation. That document and other changes towards Judaism represent the unequivocal rejection of any form of anti-Semitism while affirming the eternal covenant between God and the Jewish people. The Church rejects the charge of deicide against Jews and stresses “the unique relationship” between Christians and Jews.
“On this basis, Catholics and other Christian officials started an honest dialogue with Jews that has grown during the last five decades,” the rabbis said. “Today Jews have experienced sincere love and respect from many Christians that have been expressed in many dialogue initiatives, meetings and conferences around the world.”
Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn, academic director of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation, reflected on the statement’s importance.
“This proclamation’s breakthrough is that influential Orthodox rabbis across all centers of Jewish life have finally acknowledged that Christianity and Judaism are no longer engaged in a theological duel to the death and that Christianity and Judaism have much in common spiritually and practically,” Korn said. “Given our toxic history, this is unprecedented in Orthodoxy.”
He said there have been previous Jewish statements on Jewish-Christian relations and theology such as the year 2000 statement “Dabru Emet.” However, few Orthodox rabbis could agree with those statements’ theological and practical claims.
On Dec. 10 the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, an office of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, issued a statement to mark the 50th anniversary of Nostra aetate.
The non-magisterial document aimed at “looking back with gratitude on all that has been achieved over the last decades in the Jewish-Catholic relationship, providing at the same time a new stimulus for the future.” It said that Christians and Jews are “irrevocably interdependent” and dialogue between the two is a duty. The document discussed the tension between the universality of salvation in Christ and God's unrevoked covenant with the Jewish people.
