Catholic News 2
ATLANTA (AP) -- It's "Trumpcare" now, and Republicans have to answer for it....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In late November, a member of Donald Trump's transition team approached national security officials in the Obama White House with a curious request: Could the incoming team get a copy of the classified CIA profile on Sergey Kislyak, Russia's ambassador to the United States?...
PARIS (AP) -- France's election campaign watchdog is investigating a hacking attack and document leak targeting presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron that his political movement calls a last-ditch bid to disrupt Sunday's tense runoff vote....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump's choice for Army secretary withdrew his nomination on Friday in the face of growing criticism over his remarks about Muslims, and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans....
PARIS (AP) -- Many feared this was coming....
Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, May 5, 2017 / 09:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Following the Cuban bishops' ad limina meeting with Pope Francis on Thursday, one of the nation's bishops commented that the island is eagerly awaiting change.“Cuba is waiting for change. Some changes happen faster than others, but we Cubans, whatever our personal ideas may be, realize that the people can live in better spiritual and material conditions, and that things must change,” Archbishop Dionisio García Ibáñez of Santiago de Cuba told Vatican Radio May 4.“They are economic and social changes, which necessarily go together … There are cultural changes which are rather rapid, especially among the youth who have familiarity with digital means of communication and have another mode of thinking. This makes the world come to Cuba and come to know better its reality. Political change is also to be expected: it is the structures, and above all the legal one, which ha...
Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, May 5, 2017 / 09:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Following the Cuban bishops' ad limina meeting with Pope Francis on Thursday, one of the nation's bishops commented that the island is eagerly awaiting change.
“Cuba is waiting for change. Some changes happen faster than others, but we Cubans, whatever our personal ideas may be, realize that the people can live in better spiritual and material conditions, and that things must change,” Archbishop Dionisio García Ibáñez of Santiago de Cuba told Vatican Radio May 4.
“They are economic and social changes, which necessarily go together … There are cultural changes which are rather rapid, especially among the youth who have familiarity with digital means of communication and have another mode of thinking. This makes the world come to Cuba and come to know better its reality. Political change is also to be expected: it is the structures, and above all the legal one, which have to change.”
Cultural change has been the most visible effect of the opening between the United States and Cuba, Archbishop García commented, saying that “there are now more possibilities for travelling abroad, and tourists can more easily come to Cuba. Although it is still limited, the population has a greater access to new communications technologies and this produces a cultural change which is the condition for any other change, because it makes it possible for persons to chance their own criteria for judgement.”
He said there has been a change for the Church in that “there is a better understanding of religion, and the people can express their own faith.”
“Cubans are a religious people, but we also see there is little faith formation. For us bishops, it is a difficult problem to face. However, we are a creative Church which has been close to its people and who is now witnessing their faith.”
Archbishop García also noted that “we have vocations, although there are not enough. Thanks be to God, we have fidei donum missionaries, both diocesan and religious, but we still need more. But I would like to say that any missionary who come to Cuba and who wishes to work, has much to do because he finds receptive persons.”
An important and positive change for the bishops has been an easing of permits for visas and residency for missionaries, he added: “The situation has changed a lot. I can say that now there are no more obstacles than before, because when a bishop asks for an entry visa for a missionary he does not encounter problems.”
Asked about the buildings the Church is recovering, the bishop said that “this process has just begun. It's already a positive thing. In certain dioceses they have returned some buildings, but it's a slow process.”
“We are working with the state in order that, after 50 years in which the population has grown, we might be able to have the places for worship that we need.”
While they wait for this to move forward, the archbishop explained, “we have houses of prayer, that is, the faithful make their homes available for their communities to gather there. There aren't parish churches with their pastoral buildings, but nevertheless the Church lives.”
IMAGE: CNS photo/Gregory A. ShemitzBy Carol ZimmermannWASHINGTON (CNS) -- At a White House Rose Garden ceremonyMay 4, President Donald Trump told a group of religious leaders: "It waslooking like you'd never get here, but you got here, folks," referring to theirpresence at the signing of the executive order on religious liberty.Andmaybe some in the group wondered where "here" was since they hadn't evenseen the two-page executive order they were gathered to congratulate and only knewthe general idea of it from a White House memo issued the previous night withjust three bullet points.The orderdidn't seem to part any seas to make an immediate path to religious freedom,especially since it places decisions for how this will play out in the hands offederal agencies and the attorney general.Catholicleaders in general seemed to view it with cautious optimism, praising the orderas a first step but not the final word.CardinalDaniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. Confe...
IMAGE: CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz
By Carol Zimmermann
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- At a White House Rose Garden ceremony May 4, President Donald Trump told a group of religious leaders: "It was looking like you'd never get here, but you got here, folks," referring to their presence at the signing of the executive order on religious liberty.
And maybe some in the group wondered where "here" was since they hadn't even seen the two-page executive order they were gathered to congratulate and only knew the general idea of it from a White House memo issued the previous night with just three bullet points.
The order didn't seem to part any seas to make an immediate path to religious freedom, especially since it places decisions for how this will play out in the hands of federal agencies and the attorney general.
Catholic leaders in general seemed to view it with cautious optimism, praising the order as a first step but not the final word.
Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who attended the White House ceremony also celebrating the National Day of Prayer, said immediately after the event that he had yet to see the entire executive order. He defined the principle of it: "There should not be an overly intrusive federal government" involved when people are exercising their religious freedom in the public square or institutions they run.
The two-page order, "Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty," was posted on the White House website hours after it was signed. It is half the length of a leaked draft version of this order published Feb. 1 in The Nation magazine. The order signed by the president is short on specifics and far less detailed than the leaked draft.
It devotes the most space to a promised easing of the Johnson Amendment -- a 1954 law that bans churches and nonprofit organizations with tax-exempt status from taking part in partisan political activity. Although it would take an act of Congress to do away with this regulation, Trump can direct the Internal Revenue Service not to enforce it.
Many people likely aren't familiar with the amendment by name, or they weren't before this executive order, but they support the idea of it, according to a May 4 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute.
The poll shows 71 percent of Americans favor the law, as do most all major U.S. religious groups Only about one-third of white evangelical Protestants favor allowing churches to endorse candidates, compared to 56 percent who oppose it. Also, just 23 percent of white mainline Protestants, 25 percent of Catholics and 19 percent of black Protestants support churches endorsing political candidates.
In an interview with Catholic News Service at Reagan National Airport May 4 on his way back to his diocese for a confirmation Mass, Cardinal DiNardo said the amendment was likely more important to evangelical Christians than Catholics because, as he pointed out, the Catholic Church "has the tradition of 'Faithful Citizenship,'" which he said puts the Johnson Amendment in a bigger context.
"Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship," the U.S. bishops' quadrennial document on political responsibility, guides voters not according to the stances of specific political candidates but Catholic social teaching.
Richard Garnett, professor of law at the University of Notre Dame, said in an email to Catholic News Service that the order's emphasis on weakening the Johnson Amendment did not seem particularly significant, noting: "it is already the case that the relevant agencies and officials are highly deferential -- as they should be -- to churches and religious leaders, especially when it comes to what's said in the context of sermons and homilies."
Commenting on another major point of the executive order -- relief to employers with religious objections to include contraception coverage in their employees' health care plans -- Garnett called it "a good thing -- and long overdue," but he also noted that "such regulatory relief was already probably on its way, as a result of the Supreme Court's decisions."
In a statement after the order was signed, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price promised to take action "in short order" to "safeguard the deeply held religious beliefs of Americans who provide health insurance to their employees." The promise didn't give any specifics.
The lack of details in the order even caused the American Civil Liberties Union, which had been poised to sue, to change its course. In a statement issued hours after the order's signing, ACLU director Anthony Romero said the order had "no discernible policy outcome."
"After careful review of the order's text, we have determined that the order does not meaningfully alter the ability of religious institutions or individuals to intervene in the political process," he said.
But the group also stands ready to sue the Trump administration if the order generates any official government action. Religious groups, for opposite reasons, likewise stand ready to see if the order has any teeth.
As Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said in a statement: "This order marks an important step in restoring those constitutional principles guaranteed to every American," with the added caveat, "There is still work to be done."
- - -
Contributing to this story was Chaz Muth.
- - -
Follow
Zimmermann on Twitter: @carolmaczim.
- - -
Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Having former first lady Michelle Obama tweet your telephone number is one way to get a lot of attention....
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Plant scientist Douglas Shaw spent his career toiling in the fields in California to grow the perfect strawberry, one that was plump and bright red yet remained sweet even after the long trip to grocery stores across the country....
BOSTON (AP) -- Former NFL star Aaron Hernandez was a member of the Bloods street gang and was disciplined for having gang paraphernalia, according to newly released documents related to the investigation into his prison suicide....
