Catholic News 2
SEATTLE (AP) -- Tens of thousands across the country peacefully chanted, picketed and protested Monday against President Donald Trump's immigration and labor policies on May Day, despite a small pocket of violent unrest in the Pacific Northwest....
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A gunman distraught over a recent breakup calmly reclined in a pool chair as he shot strangers at a birthday party and phoned his ex-girlfriend so she could hear the gunfire and screams of terror, San Diego police said Monday....
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuela's socialist leader has ordered the writing of a new constitution, further angering opponents whose intensifying campaign to oust him has brought hundreds of thousands into the streets to demand change....
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- A contentious U.S. anti-missile system in southeastern South Korea is now operating and can now defend against North Korean missiles, a South Korean official said Tuesday....
Vatican City, May 1, 2017 / 01:52 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Reflecting on the dignity of work, Pope Francis said that a society of fraternity promotes the dignity of the person and provides a solution to the “global economic dictatorship.”“Do not be trapped in the vortex of pessimism, please! If each one does his or her part, if everyone always places the human person – not money – with his dignity at the center, if an attitude of solidarity and fraternal sharing inspired by the Gospel is strengthened, you will be able to leave behind the morass of a hard and difficult economic season of work.”This was the Pope’s message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, corresponding to the feast day of Saint Joseph the Worker traditionally celebrated by the Church on May 1. The research institute is meeting for a Plenary Assembly at the Vatican April 28 to May 2, 2017.The Pope warned against the two extremes of viewing everything solely as a “trade c...
Vatican City, May 1, 2017 / 01:52 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Reflecting on the dignity of work, Pope Francis said that a society of fraternity promotes the dignity of the person and provides a solution to the “global economic dictatorship.”
“Do not be trapped in the vortex of pessimism, please! If each one does his or her part, if everyone always places the human person – not money – with his dignity at the center, if an attitude of solidarity and fraternal sharing inspired by the Gospel is strengthened, you will be able to leave behind the morass of a hard and difficult economic season of work.”
This was the Pope’s message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, corresponding to the feast day of Saint Joseph the Worker traditionally celebrated by the Church on May 1. The research institute is meeting for a Plenary Assembly at the Vatican April 28 to May 2, 2017.
The Pope warned against the two extremes of viewing everything solely as a “trade commodity” on one hand, and overemphasizing a “duty” to the state on the other.
He said solidarity with men and women experiencing “social exclusion and marginalization” is not enough. Rather, there must be an expansion of “the parameters of the traditional concept of justice.”
The solution is a society of fraternity, said the Pope, which contains not only the right to equal and just wages, but also supports the development of skills in correspondence to the individual’s vocation and dignity.
Before equal remuneration is “conceived as a right” said the Pope, it is important to first recognize work “as a capacity and an inalienable need of each person.”
The Pope has discussed the connection between work and dignity before. In March, he talk to a large group recently laid off by an Italian satellite company due to cutbacks, expressing the importance of the dignity of each person and management’s responsibility to that dignity.
“Work gives dignity, and managers are obliged to do all possible so that every man and woman can work and so carry their heads high and look others in the eye with dignity,” said the Pope to a group recently let go from Sky Italy.
Tyler, Texas, May 1, 2017 / 02:57 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday night, parishioners of St. John the Evangelist church in Emory, Texas received the horrifying news that a tornado was heading in the direction of their church.Immediately, the parishioners found the safest spot they could – the hallway in between their parish hall and the main church.“About 30 seconds after we went into the hallway, it hit,” said youth minister Monica Hughes, according to CNN. “Everybody dropped to the floor and protected one another.”The hallway was the refuge for about 45 parishioners, which included toddlers and students of St. John the Evangelist. Hughes and her husband fought against the strong wind to hold the hallway doors shut before the tornado hit – all while watching their church being torn apart by the storm.“We could see the beams bending and the aluminum roof being ripped away,” Hughes recalled.Throughout the terrifying experience, Hughes ...
Tyler, Texas, May 1, 2017 / 02:57 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday night, parishioners of St. John the Evangelist church in Emory, Texas received the horrifying news that a tornado was heading in the direction of their church.
Immediately, the parishioners found the safest spot they could – the hallway in between their parish hall and the main church.
“About 30 seconds after we went into the hallway, it hit,” said youth minister Monica Hughes, according to CNN. “Everybody dropped to the floor and protected one another.”
The hallway was the refuge for about 45 parishioners, which included toddlers and students of St. John the Evangelist. Hughes and her husband fought against the strong wind to hold the hallway doors shut before the tornado hit – all while watching their church being torn apart by the storm.
“We could see the beams bending and the aluminum roof being ripped away,” Hughes recalled.
Throughout the terrifying experience, Hughes said that “everyone was perfectly calm and felt like it was going to be OK.” When the tornado seemed like it was over, they began to sing to keep the children calm and continued to pray for their safety.
The parishioners remained in the hallway for about two hours until EMS arrived, but they were removed from the location because of a gas leak and destroyed power lines.
“Both ends of the building were blown out,” stated Peyton Low, the director of public affairs for the Diocese of Tyler, Texas.
“People are using the term ‘miraculous’ to describe what happened on Saturday night – the same night that at least three tornadoes killed four people in east Texas,” Low said.
All of parishioners at the church were unharmed, although most of the church was destroyed.
Despite conditions, the parish gave thanks for their safety during the tornado, and celebrated Mass outside of the church on Sunday.
“By the grace of God and the protection of Our Lady, no one was injured,” Low stated, saying “they gave thanks that the people inside survived.”
Five deaths and 45 injuries have been confirmed across east Texas from the multiple tornadoes on Saturday night, and displacement centers have been set up at local churches in the area.
St. John's is a small parish of about 150 families in Rains County, just outside of Dallas. The parish damage estimates and relief effort updates will be posted to their website as more information is gathered.
“Please keep the parishioners of St. John and all affected by the storm in your prayers,” the Diocese of Tyler said in a statement on its website.
Photo Credit: Ben Fisher, Catholic East Texas Magazine, Diocese of Tyler.
Washington D.C., May 1, 2017 / 04:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- More than 50 members of Congress have written President Donald Trump asking for a broad executive order that protects religious freedom.“Freedom to follow one’s conscience, faith and deeply held moral convictions is at the heart of our country’s identity,” said Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.), one of the letter’s signatories.House Republicans recently sent a letter to President Trump asking for an executive order that could protect the religious freedom of various entities, USA Today reported.“We write to express our encouragement and support for prompt executive action ensuring religious liberty protections for all Americans and look forward to working with you on complementary legislation,” the letter stated.Religious freedom advocates have warned that, due to various mandates and rules issued during the Obama administration, religious institutions that uphold traditional marriage or d...
Washington D.C., May 1, 2017 / 04:30 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- More than 50 members of Congress have written President Donald Trump asking for a broad executive order that protects religious freedom.
“Freedom to follow one’s conscience, faith and deeply held moral convictions is at the heart of our country’s identity,” said Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.), one of the letter’s signatories.
House Republicans recently sent a letter to President Trump asking for an executive order that could protect the religious freedom of various entities, USA Today reported.
“We write to express our encouragement and support for prompt executive action ensuring religious liberty protections for all Americans and look forward to working with you on complementary legislation,” the letter stated.
Religious freedom advocates have warned that, due to various mandates and rules issued during the Obama administration, religious institutions that uphold traditional marriage or do not cooperate with abortions and contraceptive use could soon face federal action if no executive order is issued to protect them.
A draft of such an executive order was leaked earlier this year, but was reportedly scuttled due to the efforts of Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner.
“Americans don’t give up those freedoms when they open a family business or enter the workplace or provide health coverage for their employees,” Hultgren stated. “The federal government has recently handed down more and more mandates on Americans – it’s time to reverse this trend. Protecting individual liberty is crucial to ensuring a free society.”
One example the lawmakers cited for where such an order could be effective was a repeal of the HHS birth control mandate, which caused hundreds of religious non-profits and other employers to sue the federal government claiming the mandate forced them to violate their consciences.
The Trump administration has not yet stopped defending the mandate in court, although White House advisor Leonard Leo told Axios recently that the administration was not planning to defend the mandate indefinitely, but was rather still considering the best “litigation proof” route for lifting the mandate’s burden on religious employers.
Another reason for an executive order would be the protection of health care providers and crisis pregnancy centers from mandates that they perform abortions or cover them in employee health plans, the letter claimed.
“Despite clear federal statutes to the contrary, medical professionals have been forced by their employing hospitals to assist in abortions and state governments such as California have required religious organizations to cover abortion in their health plans,” the members of Congress stated.
Currently, the Weldon Amendments bars federal funding of states that force employers to provide abortion coverage for employees. But after California ruled that health care plans – including those of churches and religious organizations – had to include coverage for elective abortions, the head of the Office of Civil Rights at the federal Department of Health and Human Services decided last summer that the state had not violated the Weldon Amendment.
An executive order, the Congressmen claim, could fix this violation of the freedoms of churches and religious employers.
Also at stake is the tax-exempt status of schools and other religious institutions which teach that marriage is one man and one woman, the letter claimed.
For this, the signatories cited President Obama’s solicitor general Donald Verrilli, who said in 2015 oral arguments in the same-sex marriage case Obergefell v. Hodges, that the ability of these colleges to retain their tax-exempt status if same-sex marriage is the law of the land is “certainly going to be an issue.”
The Trump administration, the members of Congress said, “need not and should not wait for Congress to act before ordering the federal government to stop discriminating against individuals and institutions because of their reasonable beliefs on issues of deep concern to people of faith and good will.”
Another way an executive order could protect religious freedom would be to protect federal contractors, and dioceses and churches that provide military chaplains, from having to comply with mandates that they support same-sex marriage.
The Russell Amendment had upheld this freedom and was included in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act that passed the House, but was removed by Senate Republicans so the bill could pass the Senate.
“Any Executive Order should make it clear that religious freedom entails more than the freedom to worship but also includes the ability to act on one's beliefs,” the U.S. Bishops’ Conference stated earlier this year on the need for an executive order.
“It should also protect individuals and families who run closely-held businesses in accordance with their faith to the greatest extent possible.”
NEW YORK (AP) -- The color red made a dramatic show Monday night in the grand parade of fashion at the Met Gala, with co-chair Katy Perry in a veiled look created just for her by John Galliano and Pharrell's wife, Helen Lasichanh, in one of honoree Rei Kawakubo's avant-garde, armless jumpsuits....
NEW YORK (AP) -- Fox News Channel said Monday that co-president Bill Shine is out, the latest high-level departure at a network beset with charges of harassment and discrimination that have already claimed founding CEO Roger Ailes, leading personality Bill O'Reilly and a top financial executive....
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Several southern states braced for more severe weather Monday in the wake of storms, tornadoes and flooding that claimed 16 lives and left authorities in Arkansas searching for two children swept away by raging waters....
